


The Hansen-Heere Project

by nickwritesstuff



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Bad Parenting, Boys In Love, Everyone Needs A Hug, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Getting Together, Getting to Know Each Other, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Slow Burn, Step-Brothers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2019-12-29 01:15:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 19,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18297392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nickwritesstuff/pseuds/nickwritesstuff
Summary: Jeremy had always wanted a mom. One day he finally got one, and a stepbrother, who'll turn his life upside down.Evan never wanted a dad. He was just fine with his life when his mom announced she was dating a man. As soon as Evan met his new stepbrother, he knew his life will change. Either for good, or for bad.THE FIC IS NOT FINISHED AND PROBABLY NEVER WILL BE.





	1. Part 1 - Jeremy

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so...  
> \- Mr Heere's name in this fic is Stephen/Steve (thanks, BMC Facebook group).  
> \- I don't know how long will this be, probably around 10-12 chapters  
> \- English is not my first language  
> \- it's my first slow burn, so it probably won't be as good, but I'm still proud of it, and I wanted to share it with y'all  
> \- I'm planning to publish a new chapter every week (probably on every Sunday), if I don't post anything, feel free to harass me
> 
> That's all, I hope you'll enjoy the story!:)

When Jeremy was young, he always had one wish at every occasion a wish was appropriate: to have a mom. He loved his dad, it was just the fact that all of his classmates had a mom. He still can't forget the day when one of the kids asked "Where's your mommy?", and Jeremy couldn't answer.

So yes, young Jeremy wanted a mom. A mom who ties his shoes, and bakes him cakes, and takes care of him. Instead he got his dad, who never really left the house, and occasionally ordered some Chinese food.

But considering everything that happened to Jeremy and the SQUIP, he couldn't care less about insignificant things such as not having a mom. So he accepted it, and moved on. Until his dad dropped the bomb.

Michael was over at Jeremy's house, just doing some homework and definitely not trying to get high in the backyard. Jeremy was laughing at something his friend said, when his dad appeared in the doorway.

"Jeremy, can we talk for a second?" he called, waving. Jeremy looked at Michael, who just shrugged. Jeremy's dad never wanted to talk, they were more like the ' _I'll show you what I want you to know_ ' - type.

"About what?" Jeremy asked, standing up and jogging to his father. When he looked back, Michael looked concerned, but stayed where he was.

"About our family." his dad said. "I know it's been tough, and everything... But it'll probably change."

Oh, that sounded bad. "Change? How?"

Jeremy's dad sighed, looking uncomfortable. When he finally opened his mouth, the world around Jeremy seemed to stop moving.

"I have a girlfriend. She'd like to meet you. And her son would too, I think."

Jeremy couldn't tell what he was feeling. This is what he wanted since he was five, so what was the problem? Probably the fact that if she hurt his dad as much as his mom did, his father will easily fall back into his previous lifestyle. And then... her son? So he's not only gonna get an almost-mum, but an almost-brother as well? But now his dad looked happier than ever. His eyes were shining as he was waiting for Jeremy's reaction.

"That's awesome, dad!" he finally said with a wide smile. "I can't wait to meet them."

His dad looked like he just won the lottery. He gave Jeremy an awkward hug, and went back inside with a quick "I'll give you the details tonight!".

"Hey, what was that about?" Michael asked as Jeremy sat down on the ground, still trying to smoke without being obvious.

"Dad's dating again." Jeremy said, and Michael whistled.

"You don't look thrilled tho." he stated. Asking the good questions again, just your everyday Michael.

"I just..." Jeremy started playing with the grass around them. "I don't want dad to get hurt again."

Michael placed a hand on Jeremy's shoulder, making him look at his friend. "It'll be okay. As soon as she hurts him or you, I'll personally hunt her down."

"And her son?" Jeremy let out a sad laugh.

"Hold on, she has a son? Is he hot?" Michael grinned, making Jeremy laugh for real.

"And I'm the horny one?" he snorted, pushing Michael's shoulder weakly. "I don't even know. I guess it'd be cool to have a brother."

"That's the spirit." Michael said, smiling. "It's all gonna be alright."

"I doubt it. Gimme some." Jeremy reached for the weed in Michael's hand.

They left it at that for a few days. Michael wasn't asking about the issue, and Jeremy didn't bring it up. This is what Jeremy loved about Michael: he always knew when to push Jeremy, and when to leave him alone.

And then, as Jeremy was finishing up his math homework, there was a knock on his door.

"Jeremy?" his dad's voice was muffled by the door, but it was still audible.

"Yeah? Come in." Jeremy yelled, trying to push his books into his bag. His dad opened the door, but stayed in the doorway.

"Do you remember that girlfriend of mine?" he asked hesitantly, and Jeremy nodded. He knew where this was going. "We thought it'd be nice if you met her and her son this weekend."

Jeremy looked at his dad. It was Thursday, so he had a day to get ready mentally. He forced a smile and gave his dad a thumbs up.

"You're really okay with it?" his dad seemed surprised. "What about tomorrow then?" he grinned excitedly. Jeremy didn't have the heart to say no.

A few hours later Jeremy was sitting next to Michael in his signature blue beanbag inside Michael's basement, waiting for him to say something.

"So..." Michael finally said. "You want me to go to a dinner with you and your new family."

"Positive." Jeremy nodded. He knew it was a risky idea, but Michael always helped him with his anxiety, therefore he needed him.

"Is your dad okay with that?" Michael asked, taking a sip of his Crystal Pepsi. "I mean it's your family or something, so..."

"He'll be fine. I think." Jeremy bit his lip. "Look, I know it's weird and stuff, but you're always with me when I'm going through something, and this is something I'm going through, and-"

"Hey there, take a deep breath." Michael placed his hand on Jeremy's upper arm, and Jeremy's racing thoughts faded. "If you can talk your dad into it, I'm down."

"Oh my god, thank you." Jeremy sighed, hugging his Player One. Maybe this won't be bad at all.

As he got home, he sat down on the couch next to his dad, wearing that smile he used whenever he needed something.

"What do you want?" his father laughed, looking at his son. So far so good.

"So I was thinking about the dinner tomorrow." Jeremy said, trying to sound calm. "And I- well, maybe..."

Okay, this wasn't going as smoothly as planned. He took a deep breath, this was his dad. He just had to say what he was thinking.

"So I didn't tell you, but I'm terrified." he rushed out. "I'm not saying it because I want you to cancel the dinner, because it's important to you, but you see... I thought that maybe Michael could come as well?"

He wasn't looking at his dad, it was easier to watch his hands. He started fidgeting with them, but a memory of a harsh pain running down his spine made him stop.

"Would he make you feel better?" his dad's voice was quiet, but it still made him jump. He nodded, still avoiding eye contact. "Then he's more than welcome."

Jeremy let out a short, relieved laugh and smiled at his dad. "Thank you."

Friday went away pretty quickly. The teachers seemed to notice the anxious energy around Jeremy, so they left him alone all day. He was thankful for that.

"Are you ready?" Michael asked at the end of the day, standing next to the old PT Cruiser, waiting for Jeremy.

"I have no idea." he shrugged, trying to look calm enough to be able to open the door on the passenger side.

"Hey, I got you something." Michael reached into his pocket after taking his seat behind the wheel. He tossed a small box to Jeremy, who almost dropped it, but managed to get a grip on it. As he opened the box, he smiled. A simple leather like bracelet was sitting in it with a Pacman shaped medal with P2 on it.

"Where'd you get this?" Jeremy asked as he put on the bracelet, still smiling.

"Uh." Michael's grip on the wheel tightened. "I kinda made it. Wanted you to have something that calms you down when I'm not around."

Jeremy ran a finger over the medal, feeling warm inside. He remembered the day when he gave Michael the red hoodie.

They were both fourteen, and Michael always seemed anxious, so he did some research. It appeared that having an item of clothing can actually help dealing with anxiety, so he saved up enough money to buy his friend a hoodie online.

Even though it was oversized (a size XL is definitely not an M, looking at you, eBay), Michael wore it every single day, putting more and more patches on it.

"Thanks, man." Jeremy grinned, and Michael smiled back, eyes still on the road.

"Don't mention it. The dinner's at your house, right?" he asked quickly, and Jeremy nodded.

"I guess dad didn't want me to be even more terrified of it. You know how I react to restaurants." he laughed a little, making Michael chuckle.

"Yes, I remember the only time we went to Burger King. You almost fainted!" Michael laughed as he finally looked at Jeremy.

"And yet, you saved me." Jeremy joked, remembering how Michael took his place in the line and ordered him a burger. By that time, Michael had learned how to live with anxiety, while Jeremy's own had only started to form.

"Yeah, I'm getting used to saving your ass." Michael said, still smiling. Jeremy shifted in his seat. Yes, Michael always helped him when he was in trouble. The Burger King incident, or when he fell into the pool, or well, the SQUIP. He really didn't want to bring that up.

"What would I do without my Player One?" Jeremy smiled instead, playing with his new bracelet.

"Probably crash and burn." Michael said, earning a middle finger from Jeremy, perfectly showing the bracelet on his wrist. The boys laughed, and Jeremy almost didn't notice that the uneasy feeling in his stomach nearly disappeared.

"Let's do this." Michael bit his lip as he stopped the car in front of the Heere household. Jeremy gulped and opened the door, scrambling out of the PT Cruiser. "Hey, we still have like three hours."

"Yeah?" Jeremy wasn't looking at Michael. He was eyeing the house instead, his palms were sweaty and he was probably breathing too fast.

"Yeah." Michael carefully placed a hand on his shoulder. "We could play some video games."

That sounded good actually. Playing always made him forget about everything that worried him. He looked at Michael and nodded quickly. Michael smiled softly, and guided him to the front door.

"Hey Mr Heere!" Michael grinned as he saw Jeremy's dad in the kitchen.

"Oh, hi guys." he looked up from the weird smelling pot of... pasta?

"What's this smell?" Jeremy made a face.

"It was supposed to be Carbonara, but..." his dad gestured towards the mess around him. "It escalated."

"Maybe we should just order the food." Jeremy giggled. "We don't want them to die of food poisoning. Or do we?"

"Not funny." his dad pouted, but broke into a smile a second later. "Chinese or Italian?"

"Chinese all the way." Jeremy said, looking at Michael. He knew his friend loved Chinese food, and the gleam in his eyes was worth eating spicy vegetables.

"Okay, champ." his dad picked up the phone immediately, dialing the Chinese restaurant they always ordered from when Michael was staying for dinner. So every week.

"Let's go." Jeremy nudged Michael, heading to his room. The quite small bed was hardly enough for two almost grown men, but they still managed to sit on it, and Jeremy turned on the old console.

He immediately felt better as the familiar tune of Apocalypse of the Damned filled the room. They fell into a comfortable silence after a few minutes of bickering as they focused more and more on the game.

"Boys, they're almost here." Jeremy's dad knocked on the door. Jeremy's calmness disappeared instantly.

"Hey." Michael's arm was already around his shoulders. "I'm here. Your bracelet is here. It's gonna be fine. Just take some deep breaths..."

The - now usual - pep talk only lasted a few minutes, because the bell suddenly rang. Jeremy's hand immediately found Michael's, squeezing it tightly.

"I promise it'll be fine." Michael whispered, pulling Jeremy up, and leading him to the hall. A blonde lady was already there with a tall boy next to him. The guy looked even worse than Jeremy: his hands were shaking, he was avoiding any eye contact, and he was torturing the hem of his shirt.

"Hi, you must be Jeremy." the woman smiled. She had some kind of accent, but seemed friendly. "I'm Heidi. I heard so much about you!"

"Hi, it's uh nice to meet you." Jeremy shook her hand quickly. It was a surprisingly strong handshake.

"That's Evan." she motioned towards the boy next to her. "I think you'll get along really well."

Jeremy sent a shy smile to Evan, who hesitantly returned it. He was even taller now that they were standing closer to each other.

"Hey." Jeremy offered a hand, but Evan stepped back.

"Uh sorry, I just don't do handshakes, um, my hands are always sweaty and..." Evan rushed out, gesticulating wildly with his hands.

"No worries, I get it." Jeremy smiled. He was feeling much better. Yes, they were strangers, but nice strangers. "Oh, uh this is my friend, Michael."

"It's so nice to meet you! Steve talked about you too!" Heidi excitedly shook Michael's hand as well, who smiled politely.

"It's nice to meet you too, ma'am." he said, stepping closer to Jeremy, who linked their hands without thinking. They always did this when they were both feeling a bit anxious, it made them calm down easier.

"Oh, please call me Heidi. Being called ma'am makes me feel like an old woman." Heidi said. She seemed like a very positive person, Jeremy stated in his head. Maybe she was exactly what his father needed.

"Okay, the dinner is served!" Jeremy's dad appeared in the doorway with a wide smile. "I hope you like Chinese food."

"Oh, I love it." Heidi smiled, heading to the dining table. The three boys shared a look, smirked, and followed the adults to the dining room.

The seating was pretty obvious: next to Jeremy's dad sat Heidi, then Evan, Jeremy and finally Michael.

"So, Jeremy..." Heidi started after scraping some rice on her plate. "Steve told me you like video games."

"Oh, uh yes." Jeremy quickly swallowed the food that was in his mouth.

"What's your favourite? Evan and his friend, Jared always play video games whenever Jared comes over." Heidi waved around her fork, still smiling.

"Um we really like a game called Apocalypse of the Damned..." Jeremy muttered. Michael took his hand under the table so nobody could see it. He sighed, feeling a bit more calm. Evan smiled shyly.

"We love that game too." he said quietly, probably not expecting them to hear.

"Oh, what level are you on? We're still stuck on level nine." Michael grinned at Evan, trying to ease him as well.

"We're... Well, I'm not really good at it. We're only on level four." Evan mumbled, looking embarrassed. Jeremy sighed.

"Yeah, that's an awful map. How long were we trying to get over it?" he looked at Michael for an answer.

"Probably about a month." he chuckled with his mouth full. Jeremy made a face and threw a napkin in front of Michael.

"So yeah, I hated that level." Jeremy turned back to Evan, who seemed surprised they were still talking to him.

"Yeah, but not as much as level seven." Michael chimed in, finally swallowing the food. "That one was fu-" he quickly looked at Heidi and Jeremy's dad before correcting himself. "I mean freaking hard."

Everyone laughed a little, and just like that, the awkwardness faded. They were joking around, talking about school, everything.

"Oh, we gotta go." Heidi looked at her phone after two hours. "I have work tomorrow."

Evan looked disappointed, but nodded. Heidi frowned, and leaned over the table to ask something from Jeremy's dad. He smiled and nodded, so Heidi looked at the boys.

"Evan, do you want to sleep here? I can get your stuff if you want to."

Their eyes lit up at the same time. Jeremy quickly became fond of Evan, and they could talk about anything. Evan nodded, and mumbled a soft "only if I don't bother you", but Jeremy quickly shut him off.

"You can sleep in my room if you want to. We'll get the mattress." he said, facing Evan.

"Oh, uh okay." Evan said hesitantly, but he looked happy.

"Yay, sleepover." Jeremy grinned, ironically throwing his hands in the air. Maybe this new family wasn't bad at all.


	2. Part Two - Evan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As you can see, the story will change its narrative between Evan and Jeremy. Have fun with this one.

"So..." Jeremy sat on the bed. Evan looked around, feeling underwhelmed. Jeremy's room was similar to his: a bed, a desk, an old-looking TV and a console. There were some posters on the wall, they made the room seem more welcoming. "Are you sure you're okay with the mattress?"

"Sure." Evan shrugged. He's gotten used to it after sleeping at Jared every week. He was glad they were "friends" again, so he grabbed every opportunity when he could spend some time with the other boy.

"Hey, I knew you were familiar!" Jeremy said, phone in hand. "You were in the Connor Project!"

Great, that was one thing he really didn't want to talk about. "Uh yeah, but like... It's over, so no big deal."

"No big deal? Your speech helped tons of people." Jeremy claimed, making Evan smile a little. He was still proud of the speech, even after all the other things that happened. "Oh man, my friends would be so thrilled to meet you. One of them is a huge fan of your speech."

"Wait, really?" Evan's eyes widened. He- his speech had... fans?

"Yeah! She gets excited very easily, so when she heard you talk, she became obsessed." Jeremy laughed. "Don't worry though, she's harmless. And shorter than me, which is kind of an accomplishment."

Evan snorted. Jeremy reminded him of Jared, but he was still different. Their humor was basically the same though.

"I'd like to meet her." he said after an uncomfortably long silence. "She seems nice."

"Oh, she is. She can be a bit too much sometimes, but hey, so can everyone." Jeremy said, laying down. "Has your mom brought your stuff yet?"

"I'm not sure." Evan shrugged. At that moment a knock on the door startled him.

"Evan, here are your things." Stephen poked his head inside. "Are you guys having fun?"

"Oh yeah, we were just starting to invite people for the orgy." Jeremy rolled his eyes, grinning. Evan buried his face into the backpack Stephen placed in his lap.

"Is Michael invited?" Stephen laughed, looking at his son.

"Daaaad!" Jeremy groaned, and his dad grinned.

"Okay guys, I'm going to bed. Keep it quiet and PG-13." Stephen said, leaving the room.

"Your dad's cool." Evan stated the obvious. Jeremy nodded, grinning. "You remind me of my friend, Jared." he said without thinking.

"Ooh really?" Jeremy sat up. "What's he like?"

"Oh, uh..." Evan looked at the wall. "He's uh funny. And he always know what to say and when to say it."

"You think I'm like that?" Jeremy looked surprised.

"Well, I mean I guess." Evan shrugged, embarrassed. "And you look like him anyways. Kinda."

"Wait, seriously?" Jeremy's eyes widened. "Show me a pic."

"Oh, um..." Evan unlocked his phone. It was his first smartphone, nothing too special though. Just a small, scratched screen, but his wallpaper was a picture Jared made about them. Evan looked like his nervous self, looking at the camera like a deer caught in a headlight, but Jared was grinning, and he threw a hand around Evan's neck, pulling him closer. "There."

"Huh." Jeremy looked at the picture. "I don't see the resemblance."

"What? You're basically the same person!" Evan claimed, immediately biting his tongue afterwards.

"Nah. He looks better than me. Doesn't he?" Jeremy took the phone and turned it towards Evan so he could see Jared on the selfie, and Jeremy in real life.

"Oh, I uh don't know..." Evan blushed. Why would he know if his friend was good-looking? Well, truth be told, Jared did look good. Especially when Evan stayed over and Jared came out of the bathroom with his hair still wet... Okay, we're not going there.

Jeremy actually gasped when he realized what Evan's reaction meant. "Oh my gosh, you like him."

"Wh- I- no." Evan stuttered. He thought he was over that.

"Come on, that's adorable." Jeremy grinned. "One of my friends likes his friend too."

"Oh, uh really?" Evan tried to change the subject.

"Yeah. He came out as bi, but this other friend of mine is so. Fucking. Oblivious." Jeremy groaned. "Like you could stand in front of him yelling _'Hey, Rich loves you!'_ , and he wouldn't notice."

Evan chuckled. This friend sounded like Jared.

"Anyways if that Jared kid hurts you, I'll kill him. Just saying." Jeremy mumbled.

"Good to know." Evan huffed, gathering his stuff. "I'll go get ready for bed."

"Yeah, good idea." Jeremy - who was already in pyjamas - yawned. "The bathroom's the second door to the left."

Evan quickly found the said bathroom. It wasn't tidier than the one he shared with his mom; there were empty bottles, the mirror was messy and he was pretty sure a spider was looking at him from the ceiling, but it still looked nice. Evan liked it.

He looked in the mirror, running a hand through his hair. Was he really that obvious? He'd only known Jeremy for a few hours, and he already knew Evan's secret. He wondered if his mom knew. Or Alana for example.

His eyes widened. Alana did leave the two boys alone every now and then. She cancelled hangouts at the last minute, and Jared didn't want to go home, so he just spent time with Evan. Okay, Alana definitely knew. He groaned and splashed some water in his face.

Then he froze. If even Jeremy figured it out, did Jared? He looked at himself in horror. If Jared knew, he never said anything. Is that a rejection?

His phone buzzed in his pocket. He was shaking, but he managed to check it. There was a new message from Jared.

_From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
how'd it went? r u dead yet?

Evan laughed softly as he wrote out a response.

_To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
It went well. Jeremy's cool.

_From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
good 2 know lol  
shouldn't u be sleepin?

_To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
Probably.

_From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
u need ur beauty sleep

_To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
You too.

_From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
talking to you is more fun

Evan's eyes widened at the message. Jared never said things like that. Evan couldn't help but smile, covering his mouth, as if Jared could see it. He let out a sigh.

_To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
And what about my beauty sleep?

_From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
what about mine?;)

Evan swore his heart stopped beating for a second. A winky face. Okay, that wasn't normal, but maybe... Maybe Jared was drunk. Yeah, that seemed like a great explanation. Evan decided to play along just a little longer. He could always say he drank too much wine at the dinner.

_To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
I lied, you don't need it.

The response this time took a little longer. Evan was almost getting nervous, when his phone buzzed.

_From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
careful, i'm gonna blush

Evan laughed, feeling giddy. Okay, so he was flirting with his family friend who he had a crush on. That's normal. He looked at the time, and his eyes widened. It was way too late.

_To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
Okay, I really should go. Jeremy'll think I flushed myself down the toilet.

_From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
lol you do know you're basically brothers? the fuck are you still doing there?

Nice, normal Jared was back. Evan rolled his eyes.

_To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
Sleepover

He looked at the text for a second before adding "and planning an orgy with him and his hot best friend".

_From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
lmfao  
good night

_To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
'Night.

Evan grinned while he was brushing his teeth and he sometimes giggled while he was changing into his pyjamas. Oh god, he got it bad.

When he headed back to Jeremy's room, he expected the lights to be off, but they were on, and Jeremy was sitting on the bed, aggressively trying to get his laptop to work.

"Come on, you son of a-" the boy mumbled, and Evan laughed a little. "Oh, I didn't notice you were done. It took you long enough."

"Sorry, I uh got a text, so..." Evan shrugged, not finishing the sentence.

"Was it from Jared?" Jeremy grinned, and not for the first time that day, Evan wanted to hide under hundreds of blankets. "Aw, it was!" Jeremy clapped quietly after like half a minute of silence.

"Shut up." Evan said, sitting down on his mattress, blushing.

"Come on, let me see." Jeremy whined, and Evan never would've let him see the texts, but this was different. It was like they were actually related, like there was a special bond between them that only forms between brothers.

So he unlocked his phone and sat on the bed next to Jeremy, making sure the other boy could see it clearly.

"Okay, first of all..." Jeremy started after they finished reading the texts. "What the hell is that name?"

"Oh, it's an inside joke." Evan smiled instantly.

"That's so adorable I think I'm gonna throw up." Jeremy said, completely deadpan. "Second of all, if he doesn't like you even a little bit, I'll sell all my video games."

"Come on." Evan rolled his eyes, but felt... hopeful. That was new.

"No, you come on! He was flirting so hard I'm starting to think you're the oblivious one!" Jeremy laughed quietly, taking Evan's phone in the process.

"Shut up." Evan snatched his phone back.

"Caaan you feel the loooove toniiiight?" Jeremy whispered, grinning. Evan finally let out a happy laugh.

"You're awful." he rolled his eyes. There was a chance Jeremy was right though. Right? He spotted a line across Jeremy's wrist. A bracelet?

"Cool, huh?" Jeremy noticed Evan staring. He showed the bracelet to Evan properly.

"P2?" Evan read out the wobbly writing on the Pacman medal.

"Yeah, Michael made it. He's always Player One, and I'm always Player Two when we play video games, so it stuck." Jeremy grinned. Evan looked at him in disbelief. This guy says naming Jared TheInsanelyCoolJK in his phone was cute and romantic, but his friend makes him a complete bracelet, and it's totally platonic?

"Cute." Evan raised a brow.

"Yeah, he's such a good friend!" Jeremy said with shining eyes. "People used to think we were together."

Evan bit his tongue, trying not to laugh.

"But when I got a girlfriend, they backed off." Jeremy explained. Evan's eyes widened.

"You have a girlfriend?" he asked, sounding way too shocked. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it like that, just... You never mentioned her."

"I did! She's your biggest fan." Jeremy said. "And my ex."

"Oh." Evan was dumbfounded. "What happened?"

"Nothing dramatic." Jeremy shrugged. "She realized she's aro."

Evan knew what that meant, thanks to Jared. He always talked to him about LGBT+ stuff, naming the different sexualities and genders. Evan couldn't say he didn't like it.

"That... Must've been hard." Evan said.

"Nah, I wasn't even in love with her. Only like the idea of her. Does that make sense?" Jeremy frowned.

"Yep." Evan nodded. Oh, he definitely knew what was it like to believe you're in love when you're just idolising someone. He still remembered the first few days with Zoe. That was the time when he realized he had never been in love with her as a person. "But it still hurts sometimes."

"Speaking from experience?" Jeremy raised a brow, and Evan nodded.

"I guess I was too afraid to admit that I was- that I liked Jared, so I kinda wanted to have a crush on a girl." he explained.

"Gay crisis?" Jeremy joked.

"More like bisexual crisis, but close enough." Evan chuckled. "We should go to sleep now."

"Yeah, probably." Jeremy sighed. Evan climbed off the bed onto his mattress. "Goodnight."

As Jeremy turned off the lights, Evan's head hit the pillow. He tried to sleep, but for some weird reason, he couldn't. He waited for about an hour before making sure Jeremy was asleep. He didn't wanna wake up the boy. He pulled out his phone and opened his messages.

_To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
Are you asleep?

He waited a few minutes before sighing. He almost turned off his phone before it buzzed in his hand.

_From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
nope. can't sleep either?

_To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
No.

_From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
wanna video chat?

Evan grinned at the screen before typing out a quick yes. He carefully slipped out of the room and the house itself. As soon as he reached the porch, he called Jared.

"Hi." Jared smiled sleepily. Evan couldn't help but admire the boy for a second. He looked handsome even at midnight.

"Hey." Evan grinned as he tried to turn the phone in an angle his face was visible in the dark. Well, visible and not that bad looking.

"So what's up with this Jeremy guy?" Jared asked with a smirk. "And his hot friend?"

Evan blushed. "Shut up. He's nice. His hot friend seemed nice too."

"Wait, the hot friend really exists?" Jared's eyes widened.

"Well yeah. His name is Michael, he's pretty cool." Evan shrugged. "They play Apocalypse of the Damned too!"

"Oh, cool." Jared seemed tense, but Evan knew better than to ask him about it.

"Yeah." he smiled instead. "So what's up with you? Did anything happen?"

"Nothing important, some guy on WoW randomly tried to ban me, so I destroyed him." Jared grinned proudly. Evan laughed before remembering the sleeping men in the house. Then he covered his mouth and tried to stay quiet. Jared kept rambling about stuff, just like he always did when Evan couldn't sleep.

"And I managed to soak my shirt in barbecue sauce, and this guy, who was by the way fucking hot was looking at me." Jared started to wrap up his newest story, but the part when he was talking about this hot stranger hurt. Evan forced a smile and hoped the darkness hid his face. "So I'm sitting there, barbecue sauce on my titties-"

"Jared, what the fuck." Evan laughed. "Did you seriously made up a story just to say that?"

"Yep." Jared grinned proudly. "And you bought it! I'm a great actor."

"You're terrible." Evan rolled his eyes, still laughing.

"Nah. I just like to make you laugh." Jared shrugged, smiling before he froze. Evan's eyes widened as he tried not to look like he was dying inside. Did Jared really- "Shit, I gotta go, uh bye." Jared quickly ended the call.

Evan blinked once, twice before basically running back to Jeremy's room.

"Did something happen?" Jeremy asked, sitting on the bed, putting his phone away. Evan didn't have energy to ask why wasn't he sleeping. He breathlessly sat down next to Jeremy.

"He's gonna be the death of me." he ran his fingers through his hair. And with that, he started talking.


	3. Chapter Three - Jeremy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Late night talks and a whole day with movies and pizza. Jeremy and Michael spend some quality time together.

Jeremy woke up when Evan left the room. He never slept well, and after the Squipcident (Rich started calling it that, and it stuck) his sleeping schedule had gotten even worse. Even the smallest noise startled him at night, especially after his nightmares.

So when Evan closed the door behind himself, Jeremy sat up in his bed, shaking. He only remembered parts of his newest nightmare: electric blue, Michael, blood... Jeremy blinked away his tears. It was just a dream. He still had to physically stop himself before he called Michael in the middle of the night just to make sure he was okay, so just like every time, his phone was already in his hand. There was a new text from a few minutes ago.

_From: Player One_  
Hey, insomnia's a bitch. Just in case you wanna talk.

Jeremy smiled softly, and after fully realising he was alone, he pressed the call button.

"Yo." Michael picked up almost immediately. His voice was a bit lower and more raspy than usual. He was probably high. "Wanna talk about giraffes?" He was definitely high.

"What the fuck, man." Jeremy laughed, rubbing his eyes. He knew his dad wouldn't wake up even if he destroyed the house, so he didn't bother trying to stay quiet. "Why giraffes?"

"I dunno, dude. They're weird." Michael explained. "Like they're basically leopard horses. With a long ass neck."

Jeremy's lip twitched as he bit back a laugh. "Leopard horses?"

"Yes! And they're fucking real!" Michael sounded way too eager to talk about giraffes. "Like why aren't I dunno, unicorns real? They're less weird than the tall bitches."

"Maybe they live under the ocean." Jeremy smiled, scratching the back of his head. "That part we haven't discovered yet."

"Oh my god. I wanna discover unicorns." Michael sounded just as serious as he was in eighth grade when he saw Jeremy had an AotD pin. Jeremy gave it to him. Obviously. His train of thought was interrupted by a yawn coming from Michael.

"Aren't you tired yet?" Jeremy asked, half sad and half worried.

"Nah, I'm good." Michael yawned again. Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"Go to sleep, you idiot."

After a few seconds of silence Michael asked very quietly: "You had a nightmare again, didn't you?"

Jeremy's breath hitched. He hadn't told Michael he still had them. "What?" he asked, feeling dumb. Think, Heere. Come on.

"Jere, I know you have them. And I do too." Michael confessed, sounding weak. "That's why I wasn't sleeping. Then I got high. Then I texted you, because I was scared."

"Scared? Of what?" Jeremy raised his brows.

"Of losing you." Jeremy closed his eyes. He wasn't expecting this response. "It's always different, sometimes we're at my place, and sometimes in the school, but the... the SQUIP always wins."

"Michael." Jeremy shook his head, aggressively running his fingers through his hair.

"And then you just say how pathetic I am, and... and-" Michael stopped. Only quiet sobs were audible for a while.

"That's it, I'm coming over." Jeremy started to get up.

"No, that's... No. Just go back to sleep, I'll be fine." Michael mumbled. "It's just the weed."

"Micah, I won't leave you alone while you're clearly breaking down!" Jeremy exclaimed, gripping his blanket.

"Seriously. I'll be fine." Michael said. Jeremy let out a frustrated laugh.

"At least come over." Jeremy tried. He couldn't just let Michael suffer when he was there for Jeremy whenever he needed him.

"What about Evan?" Michael asked, voice less shaky. "Jere, believe me, I'll be fine. I just needed to hear your voice."

"Hah. Gay." Jeremy huffed, making Michael laugh a little. Jeremy felt a warm feeling in his chest. "Tomorrow I'll go over and we watch movies all day."

"Sounds like a plan." Michael clicked his tongue. "Good night."

"Good night." Jeremy smiled sadly, ending the call. He was staring at his phone for a few minutes until Evan came back.

Evan's face was red and his hair was messy. Jeremy couldn't decide if he looked happy or anxious. Probably both.

"Did something happen?" he asked as he put away his phone. Evan sighed and sat down next to him.

"He's gonna be the death of me." he said as he leaned back, now basically lying in Jeremy's lap. "He called me, okay? So I go out, I pick up, we talk and laugh and stuff... Then he makes a terrible joke, and honestly, it was hilarious. And then he says he likes to make me laugh, then hangs up!"

"I ship it." Jeremy grinned, still thinking about Michael.

"Dude!" Evan's eyes widened. "I don't know what to do."

"Ask him out, you pussy." Jeremy rolled his eyes, smiling. "He obviously likes you at least a little."

"Or he's just really nice...?" Evan looked at the ceiling for a few seconds. "Oh my god, he likes me. Jared Kleinman _likes me_!"

Jeremy laughed as Evan sat up from his lap. "Well duh."

"What- what do I do now? I never thought that was a possibility!" Evan ran a hand through his hair. Jeremy snickered.

"Why don't you try asking him on a date? What does he like?"

Evan looked like he had to think about that for a minute. "He likes superheroes. Like Marvel and stuff. And he likes teasing me, and uh coffee. He lives on caffeine."

Jeremy grinned. "Do you know that Marvel themed coffee shop that opened a few months ago?"

"Oh my god, you're the best!" Evan almost yelled, hugging Jeremy. "Oh, sorry, I shouldn't wake up your dad."

"Nah, he sleeps through everything." Jeremy said with a hand around Evan. "Now go to sleep, and tomorrow you can go to that café."

"Okay, uh good night." Evan let go of Jeremy and climbed off the bed.

"Night." Jeremy smiled, and waited a few moments before turning off the light. He closed his eyes as well, but before he could fall asleep, he opened his messages.

_To: Player One_  
Just so you know, I'd never think you're pathetic. And I promise I'll never leave you behind ever again. I'm nothing without my player one. Goodnight.

With a satisfied smile, he finally drifted off to sleep. For the first time in months, the SQUIP wasn't a part of his dreams.

"Boys! Wake up!" Jeremy's dad yelled at painfully early in the morning. Jeremy groaned as he reached for his phone. There was a new message from Michael. Nothing, really, just a heart emoji. Jeremy smiled sleepily before kicking off his blankets.

"Morning." he mumbled when he saw Evan lying on the mattress, looking like someone who wants death or caffeine. Or both.

"Hmph." Evan covered his eyes.

"So you're not a morning person." Jeremy grinned. He, on the other hand was definitely more active in the morning. He just needed some food, that's all.

"Whoever's a morning person is a psychopath." Evan muttered.

"Would a cup of coffee change your mind?" Jeremy asked, nudging Evan. "I'll make you one if you stop acting like I killed your cat named Rodriguez."

"Why Rodriguez?" Evan finally looked up, laughing.

"You tell me." Jeremy said simply. "So?"

"Deal." Evan started to get up. "Sorry, I'm not used to... not sleeping."

"Nah, it's okay. Michael's kinda like that as well." Jeremy shrugged, remembering when Michael didn't have enough sleep. Jeremy shuddered at the memory. The amount of coffee Michael drank that day could've probably killed a smaller town.

The boys headed to the kitchen, where Jeremy's dad was finishing up his morning coffee.

"Hey, dad." Jeremy reached for the coffee machine immediately. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"I'm glad you're happy to see me." his dad mumbled, looking at his watch. "But you're right. See ya boys later!"

Jeremy poured some coffee into a mug and gave it to Evan as his dad frantically ran out of the house.

"Is it always like this?" Evan asked, and Jeremy nodded. "I like it."

"Yeah, me too." Jeremy said. He motioned towards the sugar and the milk his dad left on the counter, just in case Evan didn't like his coffee black. Michael always made a face when Jeremy drank his coffee without sugar in front of him.

"When do you have to go home?" Jeremy asked as he downed his coffee.

"Hold on." Evan looked at his phone. "Mom wants to spend the afternoon with me, so..." a loud honk interrupted him. "Now."

"Oh, okay." Jeremy shrugged. "We should do this again."

"Yeah, sounds good." Evan grinned. After a few minutes and a quick hug, he left with his bag.

Jeremy grinned as he checked the time. Perfect, if he left the house in a few, then he'd be over at Michael's when he wakes up. He looked at the wall. Was it weird to know when Michael wakes up? He shook his head. After thirteen years of friendship, things like that weren't weird at all.

He knocked on the Mell family's entrance at 8.30 sharp, with a bag of chips in one hand and some soft drinks in the other. The door opened a while later, revealing a very sleepy Michael.

"What the fuck." he smiled, rubbing his eyes. "I thought I dreamed that."

"Only if we dreamt the same thing." Jeremy grinned, stepping inside. "Are your moms home?"

"Nah, they're having a date night." Michael shrugged after closing the door behind Jeremy. "So basically a date day, which is fine, because at least they're not nagging me about my love life."

"Aw, sounds absolutely awful." Jeremy rolled his eyes. "At least you have moms, they're better at dealing with emotions than dad."

"They still think we're dating." Michael said casually. Jeremy let out a laugh.

"At least they're the last ones." he said, but got quiet when he saw Michael's facial expression. "What?"

"Don't tell me you don't know." Michael said, taking the food from Jeremy. "Brooke, Chloe, Jenna, Rich, Jake, even Christine ships us."

Jeremy's face felt warm for some weird reason. "Uh, no they don't."

"Last Friday. Christine cancelled the dinner at the last moment." Michael sat on the couch. Jeremy rolled his eyes, but followed his player one.

"She was feeling sick!" he exclaimed.

"Sure. Two weeks ago. Brooke asked us to go to the cinema with her and Chloe." Michael sighed.

"And?" Jeremy made a face. Why was that such a big deal? Just four friends hanging out.

"They acted like it was a double date, come on, dude." Michael laughed, tossing a potato chip towards Jeremy, who caught it with his mouth without thinkin. "This is seriously your superpower."

"What, obliviousness, or catching things?" Jeremy grinned as he stole a fistful of chips from Michael.

"Yes." Michael said. He reached for the TV remote, clicking through channels before deciding on some weird movie about the humanity. "By the way... Thanks."

Jeremy blinked. "For what?"

"For the text." Michael shifted in his seat. "It helped. A lot."

Jeremy couldn't help but smile at that. He loved making Michael happy. "No problem. I meant it."

Michael smiled widely. Jeremy threw some chips at him. "Don't get sappy now, I promised you movies."

The boys ended up watching the Avengers movies, while making sarcastic comments every other minute ("Oh yeah, fight the god of thunder with a tin can."). Around 6PM they ordered pizza, and after they started eating, random conversation topics came up.

"What do you mean Suicide Squad was a good movie?" Jeremy laughed. Michael put his hands up in defeat.

"I said it wasn't bad! Plus, Jared Leto is seriously hot."

"That I can confirm." Jeremy sighed. His phone started ringing, the opening of Mirai Nikki slowly but steadily filled the sudden silence.

"Hmph. Nerd." Michael muttered, smiling. Jeremy rolled his eyes, and picked up the phone.

"Hey, Jeremy." his dad's voice came through the phone. "Are you at Michael's?"

"Yep. We have food, so you don't have to wait for me." Jeremy bit into the piece of pizza in his hand.

"Oh, okay. I was planning to have dinner with Heidi anyways." his dad sounded like he was smiling. Jeremy grinned.

"Have fun, kids." he said, and hung up. Michael looked pleased - he probably heard everything.

"Your dad seems happier now." he said. Jeremy nodded.

"And less pathetic." Jeremy rolled his eyes, still wearing a wide smile. "I hope it won't..."

He didn't finish the sentence. He didn't want to finish it. It hung in the air for a few seconds before Michael placed a hand on Jeremy's shoulder.

"It'll be okay." he said, and for a second, Jeremy believed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I decided to upload new chapters on the weekends, because I'm usually done with the new part by Saturday and I can't wait until Sunday lmao


	4. Chapter Four - Evan

The ride to home was finally not awkward. Evan talked about everything, how cool Jeremy and his dad were, how nice their house is... His mom smiled through his stories about their late night conversations.

"You seem happy." she smiled, eyes on the road. "I'm glad Jared's not your only friend now."

Evan made an offended noise. "Alana exists too, mom."

"I know, I know. But you never talk about her as much." his mom shrugged, trying to hide a smile. Evan buried his face in his hands. Ever since he came out to his mom as bisexual, she's been acting all weird around Jared. That didn't help Evan at all.

"What're we gonna do today?" Evan mumbled, face still in his hands. His mom laughed.

"Just the usual. I thought we could watch a movie, make food, etcetera."

Evan smiled as he let his hands down. "Sounds good."

"We could invite Ja-"

"MOM!"

As they arrived home, they got out of the car and started looking for nachos in the kitchen. Evan was the lucky one to find the cheese dip, which meant he got to hold it through the whole movie. His mom quickly found the chips as well, so they were ready to watch the film.

"What're we watching?" Evan asked, face already full with nachos. His mom grinned and turned on the TV. Evan immediately laughed as the first minute of Tangled started playing. He loved this movie. He always thought the tower was a metaphor. It could be anxiety for example, and Rapunzel freed herself from it. Evan liked this version the best.

When the movie was over (and Evan totally didn't tear up at the end), they went to the kitchen. Listen, Evan was a terrible cook. He knew this, his mom knew this, heck, even Jared knew this. But he still tried to not mess up the spaghetti sauce. Keyword: tried.

With a nice motion of his arm, he sent a full box of basil in it, then as he tried to get it out, the sauce started burning. Maybe putting it on the highest setting of the stove wasn't his smartest idea.

"Uh..." his mom looked at the mess, biting back a smile. "Why don't we order pizza?"

"Perfect." Evan huffed, silently stepping away from the pot.

The pizza was awesome. Obviously. Well, the bar was already pretty low, since the pizza's only opponent was the half burnt sauce with enough basil to kill a village.

"So... Are you really happy with this?" his mom looked at him after they ate. Evan raised a brow. "You know, this whole... Situation."

"Oh." Evan finally understood. "Yeah. I mean Stephen's pretty chill. And so is Jeremy. And you look happier, and you actually smile now, not that fake smile you've been using since dad's been gone." he said, arms flailing around.

"I didn't think you'd notice." his mom smiled sadly, and Evan returned the smile. "Thank you. For being an awesome son."

Evan didn't want to bring up last year, but he did let a frown crawl onto his face. He lied to everyone he loved, he manipulated his friends, he hurt his mom, and he almost killed himself... Twice. No, he was the opposite of awesome.

"Anyways, I'll let you go now." she forced a smile, and Evan nodded.

"Thanks. Goodnight." he looked at the time. It was only 7PM, but he didn't know what to say. He made his way back to his room and pulled out his laptop. While it was loading, he sent a text on his phone.

 _To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
Wanna talk?

 _From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
m'kay. vid?

 _To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
Yep. I'll call you soon~

As soon as the old laptop finally turned on, Evan called Jared on Facebook. It didn't take him long to pick up.

"Yo." Jared grinned. It was that contagious grin he always used around Evan. Evan loved it.

"Hey!" Evan said, waving.

"So, did something happen, or...?" Jared asked. Evan knew what he meant. They rarely used video chat, maybe once a week. Or more, when Evan was feeling anxious, and needed Jared to talk for hours. And even more when Evan needed to talk to Jared about something.

"Just wanted to see you." Evan shrugged, feeling bold. Jared rolled his eyes, but he couldn't hide the little smile that was forming on his face.

"You're a sap." he said. Evan laughed, running a hand through his hair.

"Yep." he agreed, smiling. "And I wanted to ask you something anyways."

"Cool, what's up?" Jared asked. This was it. The moment he was waiting for. Okay, maybe not, maybe he was gonna back out. He took a deep breath as he hid his shaking hands.

"Do you wanna check out that new Marvel café?" he managed to get out. He sighed a breath of relief. He did it!

"Ooh, sounds neat." Jared's eyes lit up behind his glasses. Evan's heart melted; the boy was absolutely adorable. "Is Alana coming?"

Evan blushed. "Uh no, I um thought... thought that we should go... uh go together. So, like just the um... two of us."

Oh, his stutter was back. Great. There was no way Jared didn't notice it, Evan saw he raised his brows for a second. Evan looked at his lap, waiting for the snarky comment, the mean laugh from last year, the...

"M'kay, I'm in." Jared said instead. Evan looked at the screen in disbelief. "Can we go tomorrow? Maybe it's not as busy on a Sunday."

"O-oh, yeah, sounds good." Evan said, eyes wide. Did he just ask Jared out, and did Jared just say yes? It was like the world turned upside down.

"Cool, I have to go, so..." Jared said suddenly.

Evan nodded. "No, I get it. See ya tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll pick you up at... Five?" Jared rather asked than said. Evan gave him a thumbs up. Jared grinned as he ended the call.

Ho-ly shit. Evan laid back on his bed, nearly knocking the laptop over. He asked Jared out. He had a date. Wait. Was it even a date? They never specified it. Evan closed his eyes and covered his burning face with his hands. Okay, breathe. There we go. Sweet, sweet oxygen.

He reached under his pillow and pulled out his sketchbook. He'd gotten into drawing a few months after the Connor Project. Even though he mainly drew landscapes, he could clearly see the improvement. Not just in his style, but in the themes as well. At first, it was usually the same: cut out trees with thunderclouds above them. As time went by and Evan separated himself from the Connor Project, he started to draw differently.

He looked at his newest piece. It wasn't ready yet, the colors were still missing, but the graphite showed a friendly cottage in the woods, and Evan planned to do a sunset behind it with various shades of pink and orange. He picked up a brown pencil and started working on the trees surrounding the house.

His hand immediately stopped shaking. He smiled and enjoyed the feeling and sight of the (not cheap) pencil as it basically flew across the paper. The sounds always made his rushing mind slow down. That was the main reason he started drawing back then, but soon he was drawing every time he could. Of course, he never showed his drawings to anyone. They weren't that good anyways.

A soft _ding_ coming from his laptop stopped him. He looked up to see he left Facebook open. He clicked on the notification.

**_Jeremy_ ** _**Heere** _ _sent you a friend request!_

Evan smiled and accepted the request. Almost immediately, a new message popped up.

 _ **Jeremy:**_ hey, wanna chat? call meee I'm bored

A chuckle escaped Evan's lips as he called Jeremy. His stepbrother picked up immediately and waved into the camera.

"Hey." Evan waved back lamely. He watched as Jeremy sat down on his bed (so he was probably on his phone), and waited.

"So?" Jeremy asked after a second of silence.

"So what?" Evan raised a brow.

"What's up with Jared? Did you ask him out?" Jeremy sounded oddly invested in Evan's love life.

"I mean... Kinda?" Evan bit his lip. "I'm not sure if it's a date. But we're going to the café tomorrow."

"I mean it's good for starters." Jeremy shrugged. "Ooh try holding his hand and stuff."

"Wh- no!" Evan screeched, covering his mouth. "Jesus Christ, you're awful. It's probably not even a real date."

"How'd you know?" Jeremy raised a brow. "Be a little more optimistic, man. For all we know, he could be dancing around his room like a kangaroo on drugs."

Evan couldn't help but laugh at the mental image. "Yeah, obviously. That's a possible outcome."

"Careful, the sarcasm is dripping on your keyboard." Jeremy chuckled, rolling his eyes. "Seriously though, didn't you say he might like you?"

Evan nodded. "Yeah, there's a chance. A slight, almost nonexistent chance. If it were on a pie chart, it'd be a thin line."

"What'd be the rest of the chart?" Jeremy raised a brow, and Evan laughed.

"That he's been abducted by aliens and they reprogrammed his brain."

"Sounds reasonable." Jeremy nodded seriously before breaking into a fit of laughter. Evan joined him not soon after.

"I should get some sleep." he looked at the time after about an hour of chatting.

"Yeah, you have a biiiig day ahead of you." Jeremy's grin was almost evil. "You won't get much sleep tomorrow if everything's-"

"Oh my god, shut up!" Evan covered his burning face quickly.

"Night." Jeremy said before Evan hurriedly ended the call. He giggled as he thought about what Jeremy said. He was right, there was a chance his pathetic pining wasn't completely unmutual. Maybe.

Morning came and went by, and before Evan noticed, it was almost time to go. He stood in front of the bathroom mirror with two shirts in his hands and a third one on the counter. At this very moment, his phone started ringing. He picked up without looking at the screen, still trying to decide between the shirts.

"Evan! Hi." Alana's voice was unusually cheerful. "Jared said you're going to a café."

Evan gulped. "Oh, uh yeah. I thought he'd like it. The café I mean."

"Sure." Alana giggled. Evan rolled his eyes. "So, is it like a friendly hangout?"

Lying wasn't Evan's favorite thing to do, not since the Connor Project. But now he had to say something. Argh, whatever, Alana probably already knew everything. "I don't think so."

Alana screamed. Evan flinched as he immediately placed the phone farther away from his ear. "I'm so happy for you boys!"

"It's not like we're dating now, Alana." Evan tried to explain. "I'm not even sure if this is a date or not."

"Of course it is." Alana sounded way too serious. "When he called me, he was basically smiling through our whole conversation."

Evan blushed. So Jared was happy he was meeting Evan. Okay, calm down, Hansen. "He's probably just excited about the café. It's Marvel themed, so..."

"Think whatever you want, Romeo."

Evan rolled his eyes again, but this time he was smiling. Talking to Alana always cheered him up. They talked when he was anxious about school. They talked when she needed help with something.

"Anyways, what are you gonna wear?" Alana asked. Evan could _hear_ her smile.

He looked at the shirts. All of them were on the counter now. "I'm not sure."

"Send pics." she said and hung up. Evan smiled and took a picture of the shirts. After he sent it, he sat on the toilet lid and waited.

 _From: Lana_  
2nd. Jared likes that one;))

Evan scratched the back of his neck, chuckling. He looked at the top Alana recommended. It was nothing special, just a plain dark blue t-shirt. Evan shrugged, and put it on. Now that he looked at himself in the mirror, he noticed his skin and hair looked lighter. Why would Jared like this shirt? Evan looked like a ghost in it.

 _To: Lana_  
Are you sure?

 _From: Lana_  
Positive. Good luck!

Evan looked in the mirror one last time. He still wasn't sure about this, but he didn't have time to change. He could hear Jared's car in front of the house. Soon enough, there was a new text waiting for him.

 _From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
i'm here come out

 _To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
I'm bi.

 _From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
v funny. come onnnn i need coffee

 _To: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
It's literally 5PM

 _From: TheInsanelyCoolJK_  
and i'm literally dying,,, come on pretty boy

Evan's jaw dropped. He wasn't sure if this was an insult or compliment, but it did make him feel warm inside. He bit his lip, but it didn't help hiding the forming smile. He looked at himself for the last time that day, and left the house while putting on a cardigan. It was chilly outside.

"FINALLY." Jared greeted him as soon as he opened the car door.

"Hello to you too." Evan chuckled, fastening his seatbelt.

Jared looked at him for a second before looking back to the road. Evan bit back a smile as he saw Jared's face that looked redder than usual. Maybe Alana was right.

"Do you know where is it?" Evan asked after a totally not awkward silence. Jared nodded, patting the GPS next to him.

"Mom bought me this." he explained. "Probably because she's never home. You know, if she buys me something, that somehow excuses her from being a mom."

Evan gulped, looking at Jared, who scoffed angrily. He carefully placed a hand on Jared's shoulder. "Hey, if you don't-"

"No, I need this." Jared interrupted him. Of course he knew what Evan was gonna say. "You know, a distraction and shit."

Evan nodded. "Then let's not talk about her. We're going to a freaking Marvel café, how cool is that?"

Jared laughed at his enthusiasm. "Yeah. Even though we're talking about you."

Evan rolled his eyes. It was obvious he didn't love Marvel movies after he slept through Ant Man, sitting next to Jared. But he didn't hate them either. Plus, Iron Man was pretty cool. And hot.

"Very funny." he chuckled. "When are you gonna watch the new movie?"

"I dunno." Jared shrugged. "I wanted to go to the premiere, but it's full."

"Is this the one with uh... Marvel... something, right?" Evan tried and failed miserably.

"From now on, I shall call Captain Marvel _Marvel_ _something_ until I die." Jared lost it. All the awkwardness, sadness and anger disappeared from the car. Now it was just two guys hanging out, talking about movies.

"We should be there any minute now." Jared squinted at the GPS. "Do you see it?"

Evan looked outside, and almost immediately saw a familiar red logo. "Over there."

"Damn you're good." Jared clicked his tongue, parking the car in front of the café. Since normal people drink coffee in the morning, the place was almost empty.

The boys' jaws dropped when they stepped in. The ceiling was a picture of outer space, the floor looked like a spaceship, and on the walls there were the characters.

"They're taking the Infinity War vibe seriously." Jared looked around. As Evan looked at him, he felt his heart miss a beat. Jared's eyes were shining as he was staring at the walls, a smile brightening his face. Now that Evan was so close to him, he noticed a faint blue color in his brown eyes. Evan stepped back before he did something stupid.

"Uh let's get coffee." he rushed out, already heading towards the counter where a girl was looking at them, smiling.

"Welcome, what can I get you?" she smiled widely. She was pretty, Evan noted. She had blonde hair and a nice smile. Her nametag said Brooke.

"Hey." Jared grinned. "I'll get a double espresso with plus espresso..."

Evan's eyes widened, but Brooke only laughed. "So a triple espresso, got it." she jotted it down in her notebook. "And for you?" she turned to Evan suddenly.

"Uh..." he gulped, looking at the various types and sizes of coffee. Come on, come on...

"He'll have a medium iced coffee with milk and three sugars." Jared said quickly. Evan blinked.

"Okay. Sit down, I'll bring you your drinks when they're ready." Brooke said as she left them alone.

"Thanks." Evan mumbled as soon as Jared found the perfect place to sit, right next to the painted Spiderman on the wall.

"Don't mention it." Jared shrugged. Evan wanted to say something. Anything. How'd Jared know how Evan drinks his coffee? Why did he help him out? Questions filled his brain, making him dizzy. "Hey, are you here?"

Evan blinked twice before his eyes focused on Jared again. "Sorry."

"Don't be. You okay?" Jared asked hesitantly. Evan nodded, forcing a smile. Jared sighed.

"Here are your drinks, guys." Brooke placed two coffees on the table between them. "If you're done, don't forget to play for our prizes. They're mostly teddy bears dressed as the Avengers, but they're super cute."

"Thanks." Jared smiled at her, and took a sip from his coffee. Evan nodded as well and watched Brooke walk back to the counter. "How's your coffee?"

Evan took a sip and smiled. "Perfect."

"Cool." Jared grinned. After a minute of silence, he spoke again. "Something's bothering you."

Evan didn't see why should he lie, so he nodded. Yes, lots of things were bothering him. This huge crush on Jared, or that he couldn't get more than two words out in stressful situations, maybe the fact that he considered getting coffee a stressful situation... And he still didn't know if this was a date or not.

"And you won't tell me." Jared said rather than asked. Evan nodded again. "Alright."

Yes, that's what Evan loved about Jared. He knew when to leave him alone, and nowadays he seemed to listen to this more.

"Do you want a bear?" Jared motioned towards the back of the store after they finished their coffees. Sure enough, the farthest wall was full of stuffed toys. Evan chuckled when Jared didn't wait for an answer, and was already headed to get a plushie. Evan stood up and followed him.

"Hey there, I'm Gary, nice to meet you." a guy stood next to the toys. "Wanna play for one?"

"It depends, what do we have to do?" Jared asked, already eyeing a bear that was wearing an Iron Man costume.

"Just some trivia." Gary shrugged, and Jared's eyes lit up.

"I'm in." he said without thinking. Evan hid a smile behind his hand. Jared knew everything about Marvel movies. Literally everything.

"Okay, I'll give you five questions, if you answer them correctly, you get a new friend."

"Let's start." Jared said, eyes shining.

"Okay. When did the MCU st-"

"In 2008." the guy looked pleased with Jared's response.

"Nice." he clicked his tongue. "Which Captain America movie was the least successful?"

Evan looked at Jared, who just smiled confidently. "The First Avenger."

"That's... Right." Evan had to laugh at Gary's face. Seems like his trivia was too easy for Jared. "Uh... Who played Red Skull?"

"Tricky question, it was two people, in the MCU at least." Jared rolled his eyes. "By the way Hugo Weaving and Ross Marquand."

Before Evan could even react, Gary stepped away. "Look, just... Just pick a bear. Jesus."

Jared smiled proudly and looked at Evan. "Which one do you want?"

"That one." Evan pointed at the Iron Man bear, and soon enough it was in his hands. It wasn't big, but it was possibly the softest thing he'd ever touched. "Thank you."

**~**

"Wait, that's all?" Jeremy asked hours later, looking almost offended. "You could've kissed him!"

Evan considered ending the video call, but just shrugged instead. "I don't think I'm ready."

"What do you mean?" Jeremy asked as he stuffed his face with chips.

"I don't know, just... My first real relationship was a mess." he looked at the ceiling. "I don't want to ruin this too."

Jeremy nodded. "Hey, I get it. Sorry if I'm too much."

"No, you're not." Evan said quickly. "Without you I never would've asked Jared out."

"Exactly!" Jeremy rubbed his face. "I guess I'm too lonely not to pay attention to everyone else's love life."

Evan smiled sadly. "Hey, if you-"

"Evan! Jared's here!" his mom's voice coming from outside interrupted him. He looked at his screen, where Jeremy was looking smug again.

"Can I finally meet him?" he grinned, and Evan rolled his eyes. He stood up to open the door just to find Jared on the other side.

"Hey, uh you left this in the car." he held up Evan's cardigan. He didn't even remember when did he take it off.

"Oh, thanks." he took it, smiling.

"HEY, JARED CAN YOU HEAR ME?" Jeremy's voice filled the room. Evan sighed and closed his eyes. He should buy headphones.

"Ignore him." he said quickly, but Jared was already laughing.

"Let me guess. Your stepbrother?" he asked, raising a brow. Damn, he looked good when he raised his brow like this. Evan realized the intense eye contact made his face warm. Great.

"Yeah, he can be a jerk." he said, making sure Jeremy could hear.

"I should go now." Jared said, standing a little too close to Evan. Not that he minded. "Goodnight, Ev."

"Night." Evan smiled and closed the door after Jared. He sighed, closing his eyes for a moment.

"I should've brought popcorn." Jeremy said suddenly, making Evan jump.

"Shut up." he laughed awkwardly, and sat down in front of his laptop again. He had an annoying stepbrother to deal with.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyy.  
> I'm sorry I didn't upload last week, but I was so. Freaking. Unmotivated. Like seriously. Also, this chapter was hard (hard?) uhh bad (bad?) rough (kinky!) to write.   
> And open the champagne and party all night, because this fic is officially 10K words long!! Woooo!


	5. Chapter Five - Jeremy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: very slight mention of prostitution (if you could even call it that).

Jeremy looked at his calendar, frowning. It's been three months since he met Evan and Heidi. Two since he met Jared in person. Time really was flying.

Heidi moved in after a month. It didn't seem too sudden, plus, Jeremy liked her. He had to share a room with Evan, but it wasn't bad at all. Jeremy finally introduced Evan to the others, who were all nice to him. Evan even knew Brooke from before, from his "date" with Jared. It was hilarious when she asked Evan how was his boyfriend from the café she was working at, and Evan choked on air.

Then, after weeks, Jeremy and Evan introduced their best friends to each other.

It was a weekend, and they decided to get together at Michael's place, since Evan and Jeremy knew where it was, and it was a pretty good place overall. Also, Michael was nervous about meeting Jared, and Jeremy wanted him to be as comfortable as possible.

He and Michael were in the basement when they got a text from Evan, saying that they were there. Michael sighed, and Jeremy put a hand on his shoulder.

"Do you want me to let them in?" he asked, but Michael was already getting up from his beanbag.

"No. But you can come with me." he smiled with a hand buried in his pocket, the other reaching for Jeremy's. Jeremy took it, and after Michael pulled him up, he didn't let go. Michael needed physical contact when he got too anxious to function. It seemed to work once again, because Michael flashed a smile and moved towards the stairs.

Evan and Jared were in front of the entrance. Jeremy could hear them talking and laughing. He smiled, maybe their mood will get stuck on Michael. Speaking of Michael, he was now gripping Jeremy's hand like his life depended on it.

"We don't have to-" Jeremy whispered, but Michael made up his mind. He shook his head and opened the door, looking more confident.

"Oh, hey." Jared grinned. "I'm Jared. Nice to meet you. And I already know you." he looked at Jeremy, who laughed. Sometimes when he was chatting with Evan, Jared was there too, adding sarcastic comments every now and then.

"Michael. Likewise." Michael forced a smile and shook Jared's hand with his free one. The other was still holding Jeremy's. "Uh come in."

Jeremy cringed at the awkwardness, but after Evan gave them both an encouraging smile, he relaxed. Maybe this was gonna be good. They just had to drink a little, since booze usually helped Michael relax. Well, weed would've been better, but Jared warned Jeremy that the smell of weed could cause Evan a panic attack. Jeremy understood.

"Yoo, alcohol, my friend!" Jared's eyes lit up as soon as Michael led them to the not too big basement. It wasn't much - only a bed, two beanbags, the old TV and console, and enough booze to stay wasted for a week -, but Jeremy loved it this way. It was like his second home.

"I don't really drink." Evan muttered, following Jeremy's lead, who sat on the bed.

"It's okay." Jeremy shrugged. "We thought Never Have I Ever would be fun, so you can play with Pepsi or something."

"Oh, I don't really do anything interesting." Evan smiled sheepishly.

Jeremy grinned, and pushed a glass of white wine into Evan's hand. "Then you should be able to handle this. It's not too strong."

"Thanks." Evan looked pleased. During their conversation, Jared pulled a beanbag closer to Evan and sat on it. When Michael was done with preparing the drinks, he did the same with the other beanbag, sitting next to Jeremy. The drinks were in the centre of their circle.

"Let's start already!" Jared looked at his glass, like he wanted to drink it already. "Jeremy?"

"Okay. Uh." Jeremy had to think for a second, but then smiled devilishly. "Never have I ever been arrested."

"Oh, for..." Evan laughed, taking a sip of wine. Jared drank as well, and Michael's eyes grew wide.

"This is a story I wanna hear." he said, amused.

"It's really not that exciting." Jared said. "This idiot decided he wanted to sulk on a tree, so he climbed up to a random one."

"And Jared wasn't that much of an asshole back then, so he came up after me." Evan chimed in. "Turned out the tree was on a private area, and the owner found us. He thought we were stealing the apples, and called the cops."

"And we could've escaped if this idiot wouldn't've climbed so high." Jared rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. Jeremy already knew the story, but he loved how they basically performed it. They looked so in sync, like a real couple.

"Okay, my turn." Jared said finally. "Never have I ever performed the entirety of Hamilton in my kitchen."

"Is that a personal attack?" Jeremy made a face, and downed his... something Michael gave him. It was sweet, probably orange juice and some alcohol. The boys laughed, and looked at Evan.

"Oh, uh..." he looked at his hands. "Never have I ever... Uh... Never have I ever kissed a guy."

Jared, and (to Jeremy's surprise) Michael drank.

"Wait, what?" Jeremy looked at Michael, feeling sick in the stomach. Since when did they had secrets in front of each other?

"Don't look at me like that, Jesus." Michael rolled his eyes. "It wasn't easy to get Mountain Dew Red in an hour."

The blood disappeared from Jeremy's face. "Wh-"

"It's not a story for a party." Michael shook his head, forcing a smile. Meanwhile Evan was looking at Jared, trying to look nonchalant.

"Okay." Michael slapped his own thigh, and made a face immediately after that. "Never have I ever stabbed my best friend accidentally."

Jeremy groaned and drank. "It wasn't that serious, for fuck's sake!"

"Wait, you stabbed Michael?" Evan almost dropped his wine.

"Is it a good idea to get him drunk then?" Jared snorted, making Michael laugh.

"He wanted to throw knives at the wall like the main character in a movie he loved." he chuckled. "His first try wasn't even that bad, but then the second..."

"Oh, stop being so dramatic." Jeremy pushed Michael's shoulder playfully. "He stood too close to me, and somehow I cut him."

"The knife was in my hand!" Michael held up his left hand, and sure enough, a small scar proved the event happened.

"You barely bled!" Jeremy said, trying not to think about Michael kissing some random dude just to save him... What if he didn't do it for Jeremy? What if Michael _wanted_ to kiss a random dude? Did they do anything else? Oh God, what if Michael sucked someone's--

Okay, this is _not_ how you don't think about something.

"Jeremy?" Evan's hand in front of his face made him snap out of the mental images that filled his mind. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, sorry." he tried to smile, but he could only manage a scowl. "I'll go get some water."

He stood up and left the room before anyone noticed the water bottles in the corner. He needed air. As he opened the back door, he shivered. It was cold.

"Hey." he heard Michael's voice. Jeremy scoffed, not looking at him. "Is this about-"

"Yes!" Jeremy interrupted Michael. "Yes, it is! I thought we were done with secrets."

"I knew you'd react badly." Michael said. Jeremy looked at him in disbelief.

"So you decided to what, spare my feelings?" he laughed without any humour. "Guess what, you can't! Why the fuck would you do anything like that?"

"To save your ass!" Michael shouted. "To help you again, because I'm that fucking nice! To clean up after you like usual!"

"If I'm that tiring, why don't you just-" Jeremy choked back a sob.

"Because you're too important to me!" Michael's voice grew even louder. "Because I saw life without you, and it sucked! Because I don't think I can live without you!"

Jeremy would've been touched if he weren't so mad still. "And that's your solution? To kiss a random guy, and god knows what else to do with him because of me?"

"Yes!" tears started pooling in Michael's eyes. Jeremy felt like he was in Jake's bathroom again with Michael. "What else was I supposed to do? Let the SQUIP win? Lose you for real?"

Before Jeremy could register what was happening, there were arms around him. He tentatively hugged Michael back as he noticed he was shaking.

"You didn't lose me." Jeremy said quietly. He didn't trust his own voice. "And you never will. I'm sorry."

Michael hugged him tighter. Jeremy closed his eyes as he melted into the hug. "I couldn't do it again." Michael said. Fuck, he sounded absolutely wrecked.

"You won't have to." Jeremy sighed. When he released Michael, and they stayed close to each other for a minute, Jeremy felt something he thought he'd never feel around Michael.

Butterflies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Our oblivious boy is starting to feel something. Oooo what'll he do with this new info?  
> Don't worry, the actual plot is going to arrive next week, I promise.;)


	6. Chapter Six - Evan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> BEHOLD  
> THE PLOT HAS ARRIVED

As Jeremy basically ran out of the room, Evan and Jared looked at Michael.

"What?" he asked, fidgeting with his empty cup. Evan sighed, but before he could say anything, Jared spoke up.

"Go after him, you moron!" Jared furrowed his brows. "If this is how my ship will sink, I'll quit life."

Michael looked confused for a second before rolling his eyes. "That ship has sunk a long time ago."

"Then fucking rebuild it, now!" Jared huffed, pushing Michael off of the beanbag he was sitting on. Evan hid a smile and his blushing face behind his hand that wasn't holding a glass. Jared was hot when he was angry. Well, when he was angry at anyone but Evan.

"Look, the last time I tried to talk to him when he was mad, he called me a loser-" Michael started, but Jared interrupted him by throwing his empty paper cup at him.

"Ask me if I give a damn. He's your best friend, and he needs you right now." his hands started shaking. Evan hesitantly took them.

"And when I needed him?" Michael furrowed his brows. "Because I did. And he left me alone."

"Look, I..." Jared looked at Evan sadly. "I know everything about being alone, and- and feeling left out." he looked back at Michael, but Evan couldn't take his eyes off of Jared. "But I can see you love Jeremy, and you two have to talk this shit through."

"I'm going, geez." Michael gulped as he stood up. "...what do I say?"

"Anything. Talk about things that happened. Believe or not, Jeremy loves you." Evan muttered, still looking at Jared. "Maybe he doesn't know it yet, or he doesn't show it enough, but... But he does. Love you, I mean. Sometimes showing emotions is hard when you're in love."

Michael couldn't hide the hopeful smile quickly enough. Jared nodded, and motioned towards the door. "Get 'em, tiger."

Evan snorted, but Michael just put off his drink and ran outside. Jared looked at Evan. "When did you become a love guru?"

"What?" Evan jumped a little. Whoa, Jared was somehow closer than before.

"All that stuff you said 'bout love." Jared tried to explain. "How'd you know that? I thought you weren't in love with Zoe."

Evan finally understood. He didn't see why he should lie, so he just shrugged. "I wasn't talking about her."

Jared's eyes widened behind his glasses. Evan held his gaze, feeling comfortable after years of worrying all the time. All the voices in his head, all the rushing thoughts seemed to stop. "Then who-"

"What about you?" Evan interrupted him. 

"What about me?" Jared asked, raising his brow. 

"Well, you did say some- uh... some things too. So like..." Evan shrugged. He realized he was still holding Jared's hand. 

"I'm a wise man." Jared grinned, and he quickly stood up and sat on the bed next to Evan. "So if you weren't talking about Zoe, then-"

"If you're so wise, I fail to understand how you haven't noticed yet. It's you." he finally said it. The secret he'd been holding onto for lord knows how long was finally out. "And even though I don't know if you... If you feel the same way, and even though I'm not ready for this whole thing to happen, I thought you deserve to know."

When Evan imagined this conversation, it was usually more dramatic. More yelling. Maybe some rain. Probably tears. But now, as they were sitting in Michael's basement, completely at ease, holding hands, Evan wouldn't have traded this for the world. 

"I do. Feel the same way, I mean." Jared choked out before pulling Evan into a hug, releasing his hand. "Holy shit, of course I feel the same way."

Evan closed his eyes and returned the hug. "And you're all right with taking things slow?"

He really didn't want to mess this up. With Zoe, they rushed everything. Only after a few days, they said they loved each other. See how that turned out.

"Yeah. Definitely." Jared nodded, Evan could feel his head move against the base of his neck. It was nice, holding Jared this close. "Just tell me if I go too far."

"I always do." Evan let out a soft chuckle. 

"You never do." Jared laughed a little as well.

"Well, you always know, so..." Evan released Jared. "I think we'll be fine."

"Of course we will." Jared smiled with such affection, Evan didn't know how he was able to live without it for so long. 

The moment was ruined by Jeremy and Michael, who came back, smiling. Evan let out a relieved sigh. 

"So can we drink some more?" Jared asked, eyes shining. Michael nodded, laughing, but Jeremy seemed oddly quiet. Evan raised a brow at him, but he just shrugged.

The rest of the day went by in a blur. They continued the game, and they drank. A lot. Evan remembered laughing hysterically at... something. He remembered that someone was sitting in his lap at some point, probably Jared.

Evan walked home with Jeremy, leaving Jared with Michael. He lived farther than the boys, and he was too drunk to drive. The one thing Evan remembered clearly was that Jared placed a sloppy kiss on his cheek when saying goodnight. It was nice.

The next day, he woke up with a hangover, something he'd never experienced before. He felt like his head was falling apart, his ears were ringing, and his vision was blurry. Suddenly there was a cup of water in front of him.

"Drink this." Jeremy whispered. He was sitting on the edge of Evan's bed, still holding the water. Evan nodded, but he immediately regretted it as his head started pounding even more. "Careful."

"How are you not messed up?" Evan muttered as he was sipping his water. It was cold, which felt nice.

"When Rich is your friend, you get used to drinking." Jeremy smiled as he took the empty glass from Evan's hand, and placed it on the desk near the bed. "Feeling better?"

"Much." Evan said. Then, the events of the day before flooded his mind. He gasped.

"What?" Jeremy laughed, looking confused. Evan blushed.

"I think I'm dating Jared." he managed to get out before burying his face in his hands in order to hide his smile. "Holy shit."

Jeremy placed a hand on his shoulder. "No shit, buddy. He spent the afternoon in your lap. And you yelled 'WE ARE DATING' very loudly, holding his hand at like 1AM, so..."

Evan groaned. "I'm never drinking again." 

"That's what they all say, honey." Jeremy said, yawning. Evan looked at him. He was fidgeting with the hem of his shirt. Jeremy never did that, or at least he stopped immediately.

"Are you okay?" Evan asked. He positioned himself to the edge of the bed, so he was now sitting next to Jeremy. 

Jeremy bit his lip. "Uh yeah, sure. Everything is awesome."

"It doesn't seem awesome." Evan furrowed his brows. Something was clearly bugging Jeremy.

"Argh." Jeremy groaned, leaning back on the bed. He was now laying next to Evan, looking miserable. "I'm fucked."

"Figuratively, or..." Evan grinned, which earned a weak punch from Jeremy. "Okay, okay. I'm listening."

"I... Ugh. So..." Jeremy tried to get out a single word. Evan laughed. "It's not funny." Jeremy covered his face with his arms.

"Oh, it is." Evan snickered. "So what?"

"I feel weird." Jeremy managed to get out. Evan looked at him, confused.

"Is it the alcohol?" he asked after a second of silence. Jeremy lowered his hands, and looked at him seriously.

"What? No, I... Only when I'm around Michael." he said. Evan's eyes widened. 

"Are you-"

"No."

"In love-"

"Don't say it."

"With Michael?" Evan finished his question, grinning from ear to ear. Jeremy tried to say something, but it just came out as a groan. "Is that a yes?"

Jeremy sat up again. "Maybe? I don't know, I shouldn't-"

"Who cares what you shouldn't do?" Evan interrupted him, rolling his eyes. 

"He's my best friend." 

"And Jared is mine. It's not a big deal." Evan shrugged. 

"It's not that, just..." Jeremy looked at his hands. "I messed up a year ago. I was... a jerk. We fell apart. Fuck, I don't want that to happen again!"

"It won't." Evan wanted to say, but then he heard his mom downstairs yell his name. His full name. 

"Oh, shit." Jeremy looked at him in horror. He took Evan's hand, and pulled him up from the bed. "Want me to go with you?"

Evan only nodded. His mom was rarely mad at him. Almost never. And she never called him Mark Evan Hansen. He flinched when he saw his mom's face. It was almost like a year ago when the Connor Project happened. 

"Do you care to explain what happened yesterday?" she asked, voice dangerously low. Evan shuddered.

"Oh, come on. They're basically adults." Stephen said. Evan didn't even notice he was there.

"They're not 21, which means they shouldn't drink! Or at least they shouldn't come home completely wasted at 2AM!" Evan's mom looked offended. 

"Look, I-" Evan started, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. He looked at Jeremy, surprised. What was he doing?

"I gave the alcohol to Evan." he said. "I apologize, I didn't think it would be-"

"Evan is a grown man, he can decide if he wants to drink. At least I thought." his mom's voice was cold. "I didn't think you'd be such a bad impact on Evan's life."

"Wait, what?" Stephen furrowed his brows. "Jeremy's great for Evan! Look at him, his anxiety is getting better."

"Because of his medication." Evan's mom said. Evan reached for Jeremy's hand, who quickly squeezed it. 

"How do you know?" Stephen asked, sounding genuine. Evan's mom scoffed. "Look, I- boys, please go outside."

Jeremy nodded, and pulled Evan out of the room. They looked at each other, Jeremy confused, and Evan scared. 

"What do we do now?" Evan looked at Jeremy, who put a hand over his mouth.

"We listen." he grinned nervously, stepping closer to the closed door. Evan followed him.

"I just don't think that Jeremy is good for Evan." they heard Evan's mom's voice.

"And I disagree." Stephen said almost immediately. "They're both great for each other. Jeremy is less wild, and Evan is less..."

"Less what?" 

"Less not-wild." Stephen said finally. Evan scratched his wrist.

"Is that a good thing?" Evan's mom asked after a long pause.

"It's a natural thing." Stephen explained. 

"Look, maybe we should try..."

"Please don't say you want to take a break." Stephen sounded wrecked.

"That's the best choice we can make right now."

"No..." Jeremy whispered. Evan felt a tear escape his eyes. This couldn't be happening.

"I love you, but-" Stephen said. He sounded like he was about to cry.

"If you do, you should understand why I'm doing this."

After a pause that felt like it lasted for hours, Stephen probably went closer to the door, because his voice was louder. "I get it. Boys, I know you're here."

The door opened to reveal Stephen and Evan's mom standing side by side.

"Look, I'm sorry, but-" Jeremy started, but Stephen quietly shook his head. 

"You can't change my mind, sweetie." Evan's mom said. "I apologize, but I feel like this is the right thing to do."

"No, it's not!" Evan didn't want to say it out loud, but it happened. "It's just- just for you, be- because you can't accept I'm not a... not a little kid anymore!"

"Please pack your bags." his mom said calmly. Evan's tears were now running free, making his eyes hurt and face wet. 

He wordlessly went back to his- to Jeremy's room and threw his clothes in a backpack. Jeremy followed him soon after, helping him silently. When Evan was ready to leave, Jeremy hugged him.

"I'm sorry." he whispered. Evan shook his head. Why was Jeremy sorry? He didn't do anything wrong. It was Evan, all of this was because of him. If he knew how to stand up for himself and the people he loved... Or if he weren't such a burden for his mom, or maybe if he knew what to do now... But none of these things were true. He was completely useless right now. So he just hugged Jeremy back, clinging to his shirt like his life depended on it, and left the house after his mom.

They slept in a cheap motel. Their room had only one bed and a tiny window. It was almost as depressing as Evan's mind. Almost. 

He pulled out his sketchbook and started drawing. It wasn't anything like he'd drawn before. Smoke and fire almost completely covered a forest and the sky. In the middle of the picture stood a guy with a burning match. 

He kinda looked like Evan.


	7. Chapter Seven - Jeremy

Jeremy felt miserable every time he looked at his dad. And he looked at his dad quite a lot, since he hadn't been moving since Heidi and Evan left. He sighed and went back to his room. He sadly smiled when he saw Evan's bed, and decided to sit on it like they used to. He pulled his phone out, and video called Michael.

"Sup?" Michael picked up after a while. He looked like Jeremy interrupted something, but he still looked happy. Kind of. His smile disappeared though when he saw Jeremy's face. Yeah, he probably looked awful. "What happened?"

"Heidi broke up with dad." he said simply. His voice was almost completely gone after he'd been yelling and crying for over an hour. Not at his dad, obviously. "She said she and Evan needed a break. From us."

"What?" Michael's eyes widened, and Jeremy shrugged. He didn't really want to repeat himself, and he knew Michael heard him in the first place. A moment of silence hung between them, Jeremy trying to choke back the tears he felt were coming, and Michael just... Staring. "Okay, hang on."

In just a minute, Jared was added to the call. Jeremy didn't even know he and Michael became friends. He looked frantic, his usually neat hair was standing in all directions, and his eyes were wide.

"Yo, what the fuck?" he asked immediately. So Michael told him what happened. That was good, now Jeremy didn't have to. "Where's Evan?"

"Heidi took him, I don't know where. Probably to a hotel or something." Jeremy said quietly. Jared cursed, making Jeremy flinch. He needed to concentrate on something. Just enough to stop being on the verge of tears. He saw Michael on the screen. Yes, that could work.

"He doesn't pick up his phone." Jared said, panicking. Jeremy buried his free hand into his hair. The other was trying to keep the phone steady. His eyes were fixed on Michael, and he prayed he wasn't too obvious. He already felt his heartbeat slow down.

"It's probably nothing." Michael said. "I'm guessing he's upset too, but-"

"No, you don't understand, he tried to..." Jared stopped. "We have to-"

"We have to calm down." Michael interrupted him. If Jeremy weren't so sad and now worried, he would've thought it was hot. Damn it, he still thought it was hot. He wondered if Michael could've used this voice more often.

"OH MY GOD HE'S ONLINE." Jared yelled, looking at his phone. Jeremy blushed. Was he seriously thinking about Michael's... dom-voice? "Hold on."

A while later Evan was added to he conference call. He looked awful, much like Jeremy. His cheeks were red, and so were his eyes. He'd been crying. When he reached up for his hair, Jeremy noticed graphite on his hand. Jeremy smiled faintly. Drawing always helped Evan calm down. Maybe he should try it too, instead of thirsting over Michael. During a conference call. While his dad was falling back into depression.

"Hey." Jeremy smiled sadly. Evan hesitantly returned it. "Where are you?"

"In a motel. Mom's out." Evan almost whispered. Jeremy bit his lip. It was never good when Evan wasn't saying much, he usually tried to talk your ear off.

"Okay, we need a plan." Michael spoke up after a pause. Jeremy furrowed his brows.

"What plan?" he asked. Whoa, his voice was rough. It was probably from the tears he was so desperate to hold back.

"To get your parents together again?" Michael rather asked than said. He rubbed the back of his neck. Jeremy noticed he wasn't wearing his hoodie, but some sort of fabric was covering his arm. He wondered what that was for. "Look, I saw your dad, and she needs Heidi. And I'm pretty sure she needs him too."

"True." Evan said quietly. Jeremy nearly jumped. Evan's voice was clear and determined. "What do we do?"

"We can't do much with dad." Jeremy shrugged, feeling defeated. He was being honest. "He's back to not doing anything."

"Why don't you both try to talk to your parents? You know, the usual shit, how much you're sorry, etcetera." Jared said. Jeremy nodded.

"That could be a good start actually." he said after a second of silence. "Evan?"

"Yeah, I'm in." Evan looked more serious than ever. Jeremy felt better just by looking at his friends. They were all ready to help Jeremy and Evan... Jeremy let a smile crawl onto his face.

"Cool. Okay, we start with that, then..." Michael started talking. Jeremy tried to listen, he really did, but he got lost. Michael's eyes were shining just a bit too bright, he ran his hands through his hair just a bit too many times, and Jeremy couldn't take his eyes off him. How had he never noticed how dark Michael's skin was? How adorably he smiled when he was excited? How beautiful his eyes were behind his glasses? And oh god, his shirt's sleeve rolled up, and since when has been Michael working out, because damn. It was showing.

"Jeremy? You with us?" Michael's voice made him snap out of it.

"Wh- uh sorry, my connection is... shitty." Jeremy said quickly. He mentally thanked Christine for bringing him to that improv meeting.

"Okay. Long story short, you two go and talk to your parents." Michael smiled, and Jeremy basically felt his soul leave his body. At least now he knew who was the disaster gay (well, bi) in the group.

"Got it." he nodded, smiling nervously. They talked for a few more minutes before ending the call. Jeremy sighed and layed down on the bed. He bit his lip, just thinking about Michael for a second. How he smiled every time he saw Jeremy. Like seriously, that smile was like drugs. Jeremy got addicted to it.

And even though Jeremy didn't mind it at all, he noticed Michael was more comfortable with touching. Hugs, for example. Michael hugged Jeremy every morning they met, and every afternoon they parted. Or smaller things, like he playfully pushed Jeremy each time he was winning in a video game. Jeremy felt warm inside just thinking about the times Michael excitedly grabbed his hands while talking about something.

After the SQUIP, their relationship became something else. They could rarely talk, they felt uncomfortable when it was just the two of them, it was basically nothing like before. If they eventually ended up in a room together, they were just sitting in silence, until Jeremy apologized. Again. And again. It was awful.

But then, one day Michael sat down right next to him in the cafeteria, and he placed a slushie in front of him, smiling. Jeremy carefully smiled back, and that was when he knew that Michael was ready to build back this friendship. It still wasn't perfect. There were times when Jeremy stiffened because he heard Keanu Reeves's voice, or Michael distanced himself because Jeremy accidentally wore an Eminem shirt. But they were getting there. Slowly and steadily.

He sighed and got up from the bed, heading to the living room. As expected, his dad was still there, staring at nothing. His heart was aching. Yeah, his dad wasn't perfect, but he didn't deserve this. Jeremy wanted him to be happy. It shouldn't have been that difficult to achieve this goal. It wasn't fair.

"Dad?" Jeremy asked. His voice was weak and about an octave higher than usually. He flinched. "Can we talk?"

His dad didn't seem to move, but Jeremy felt like he was listening now. He sat down and took a deep breath.

"I- fuck, I'm so sorry." he huffed. "I messed up again."

"It wasn't your fault." his dad finally said, placing a hand on Jeremy's shoulder. It didn't help much, but Jeremy smiled faintly, trying to ignore the shakiness of his dad's words. He sounded like he was about to break, but held back because of Jeremy.

"Just let me take the blame for this one." he laughed dryly. He shook his head, trying to clear it up. "I wanna... I don't know, fix this."

"There are some things that can't be fixed, Jeremy."

Jeremy chuckled. "Is this really the time to go all philosophical?"

"Fair point." his dad smiled, but it vanished almost immediately. "But you shouldn't have to worry about this."

"Yeah, I can't see Evan, and you're... like before. Totally not my problem." Jeremy rolled his eyes. "I can see you're not okay, and I am not okay, and Evan is not okay, and I'm pretty sure Heidi is not okay either."

His dad looked at the wall in front of them for a few seconds before shifting in his seat. "We should respect her choice."

"But-" Jeremy tried. His dad shook his head, looking defeated. "Okay."

He was obviously not okay, but he stood up and went back to his room. New plan. If his dad didn't want to do anything, Jeremy had to. Even if his dad had no idea. But first, he needed some time. Just enough to realize how miserable he was without Heidi.

Yeah, he could do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, sorry about this chapter. I don't really like it, but eh. Next week's chapter will be more fun, I swear!  
> By the way, comments and kudos make my day a hundred times better.:)


	8. Chapter Eight - Evan

The nights at the motel were the worst. Evan's mom came "home" at around midnight, and tried to talk, but... Evan didn't want to. How could she try to go back to the way it was before? Evan was shaking with anger whenever he thought about it. His mom messed up the only good thing in his life. Well, not the only one.

He still had Jared. Kind of. They didn't meet much, Evan's mom said he couldn't leave the motel. It was all because of that one night he'd gotten drunk. It was not fair at all. Normal people his age were drinking every day. But he still listened to his mom. Until now.

He was tired of not talking at all. He only texted Jared, Alana and Jeremy, because he didn't trust his voice. Plus, if he started talking, it would've been harder to stay quiet in front of his mom. His friends understood. Jared helped him a lot. Evan was surprised how nice he was; he sent Evan pictures of trees he saw when he went outside, and of course memes and pictures of cats. It was adorable, but not enough. Evan wanted to see him again. So, after weeks of being silent and alone, he sneaked out.

He sent a text to Jared after his mom left for work. It wasn't much, he only said he wanted to stay at Jared if it wasn't a problem. It wasn't. So he threw some of his clothes into a bag and left his mom a letter to stop her from calling the cops. He didn't say where he was staying.

He didn't have to knock when he arrived. Jared immediately opened the door and pulled him into a hug. Evan let out a soft laugh and wrapped his arms around Jared.

"Hey." Evan whispered into Jared's hair. He was smiling so wide it hurt his cheeks. Gosh, he missed his boyfriend so much.

"Hey." Jared said quietly, not letting go of Evan.

"How'd you know I was here?" Evan asked after they parted. Jared bit his lip.

"I may or may not have been watching the street from the window." he admitted, earning an affectionate laugh from Evan. "Okay, shut up."

"Sorry." Evan said, not feeling sorry at all. Jared then stepped aside, a silent invitation Evan took without hesitating.

"Do you wanna talk about it, or just watch Tangled?" Jared closed the door when they were both inside the house. Evan smiled, but shook his head.

"Can we watch Aladdin?" he asked, and Jared nodded, looking confused. Evan knew why, they always watched Tangled together when he was upset, but now it would've reminded him of his mom. Plus, Aladdin was a great movie.

Jared let him to his room. When they were younger, Evan was jealous of Jared. His room was huge with a pretty big bed, a TV, three different types of gaming consoles, and tons of video games. That was before he learned the truth about Jared's mom and how she was never with her son. Then the jealousy disappeared.

"Come on." Jared said, already on the bed. Evan didn't even notice he was zoning out until he realized the movie was ready to play. He sat next to Jared, both of them leaning against the headboard, facing the TV. "You comfy?"

"Almost." Evan said before he curled an arm around Jared's shoulders. "Yep."

Jared shook his head, but he couldn't hide the blush from Evan. He started the movie, and Evan was feeling calmer with every second.

After one and a half hours of singing, laughing and cuddling, Jared passed out. Now that he was so close, Evan noticed the dark circles under his eyes. He was gonna have to bring that up once Jared was well rested. Until then, he was happy to be a human pillow.

He checked his phone. There were a few new messages from Jeremy and Alana, but none from his mom. That wasn't a surprise, she probably wasn't back at the motel yet. He replied to his friends, telling them he was staying at Jared, and if his mom called them, deny everything.

Of course, Evan knew his mom was going to call Jared first. She wasn't stupid, but better safe than sorry. He didn't want to deal with it yet, so he opened Tumblr. Just until Jared wakes up.

About an hour or two later, Jared tensed in his arms. Evan didn't look at him, just continued to save his favourite Hamilton fanarts.

"Morning." he said eventually, and _felt_ Jared's soft laugh.

"How long was I asleep?" Jared asked as he wrapped his arms around Evan's waist, resting his head on his chest.

"Not too long." Evan replied. He locked his phone and threw it on the bedside table. He laughed a little.

"What?" Jared asked, probably still half asleep.

"I can't believe you fell asleep on me." Evan let out a full on laugh, earning a weak punch from Jared.

"It's your fault anyways." Jared mumbled. "You're warm. It's easy to fall asleep on you."

Evan forgot how to breathe for a second. Jared was literally too cute for this world. He then remembered how tired Jared looked.

"Are you okay?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

Jared laughed awkwardly. "Shouldn't I ask this to you?"

"You look exhausted." Evan shook his head. His hand found its way to Jared's hair, and started playing with it. "When was the last time you slept?"

"Now?" Jared said, or rather asked. Evan huffed.

"Before that."

A silence told everything he needed to know. Evan sighed, and layed down on the bed, pulling Jared with him.

"What-" Jared started but Evan made him shut up with a glare.

"We sleep." he said simply as he pulled Jared close.

"Come on, it's early." Jared shifted in the bed, but didn't move otherwise.

"We. Sleep." Evan mumbled, smiling.

"Don't you wanna change?" Jared asked. Evan looked at him. "Yeah, right, sleep. Okay." He felt Jared relax in his arms as he finally gave up.

They woke up at around midnight. Evan groaned as Jared's ringtone filled the room. Jared sighed and looked at the screen.

"I guess your mom is home." he closed his eyes for a second.

Evan felt the panic rise in his chest. His hands started shaking, and suddenly the oxygen in the room was not nearly enough. His vision went blurry, so now he could only feel Jared's eyes on him.

His mom was calling. She knew he was here. She was going to take away Jared as well, just because Evan couldn't stay at the goddamn motel. He ruined it. Like usual. He was worthless, he deserved to be alone, all alone, alone for forever-

"Evan." Jared's voice came from in front of him. Evan opened his eyes. When did he close them? The room was silent again, now Evan's heavy breathing was even more audible.

Jared was holding his hands. It was nice. Jared was the warm one now. He managed to slow down Evan's breathing by stroking his arm.

"There we go." Jared mumbled. "You're doing amazing."

Evan huffed, and placed his head on Jared's shoulder. "What about mom?" he asked, sounding weaker than ever.

"If we're lucky, she'll think I'm sleeping." Jared said. Evan relaxed a little, and without noticing, he fell asleep in Jared's arms in record time.

A sweet smell filled his nose. He smiled, slowly opening his eyes to see the morning light. He was expecting the sight of the empty bed, so he just sat up, and promised himself he'll never sleep in jeans ever again before heading to the kitchen.

Jared was there, standing in front of the stove. He hadn't noticed Evan, at least it didn't seem like it. He was singing a song from a musical, probably Heathers. He never let Evan hear his singing voice. Evan didn't understand why, he could listen to Jared for days.

"Good morning." Evan said as he slowly approached Jared, who jumped a little, and turned around.

"Jesus, you scared me." he laughed awkwardly. Evan noticed a blush on his cheeks and a bowl of... something on the counter.

"What's this?" he pointed at the bowl as he stepped into Jared's personal space after he turned back to the counter, resting his chin on his shoulder.

"Pancakes." Jared leaned back a little, now pressing his back against Evan's chest. Evan watched as Jared poured some batter into a pan. "Almost pancakes."

"What'd I do to deserve this?" Evan buried his face in the crook of Jared's neck, smiling.

"Nuh uh." Jared laughed. "You don't just get free pancakes. You're gonna help me."

"What, no." Evan stepped back, distancing himself from Jared and the stove. "You know I can't-"

"If I sing in front of you, you make pancakes in front of me." Evan was positive Jared's grin was evil. "Come on, I'll help."

Evan couldn't believe he was doing this, but soon enough, he was standing in front of the sizzling pancakes, Jared guiding his spatula holding hand.

"Aaand..." Jared murmured into his ear as they pushed the finished pancake onto a plate. "You just made a pancake."

Evan looked at Jared, really looked. His hair was messy, his glasses were missing, and he was munching on a piece of pancake. And yet, Evan still thought he looked adorable with his shining eyes, and a smirk playing at his lips.

"It's pretty good, you know." Jared said, holding up the half eaten pancake in his hand.

"I want to kiss you." Evan blurted out. Jared dropped his pancake.

"What?" he asked, making Evan blush. He probably should've said this in a different way. Well, there was no backing out now.

"You heard me." he said instead, stepping closer to Jared. "Only if you want to."

"Of course I want to." Jared smiled as he placed his hands on Evan's upper arms. "But didn't you want to wait?"

"I waited long enough." Evan said, and before he could change his mind, he pulled Jared closer until their lips finally, _finally_ touched.

Jared tasted like pancakes and mint, and he didn't move much first, but Evan wouldn't have traded this moment for anything in the world. He buried his hand in Jared's hair, making Jared let out a whimper, and _oh god_ , he was moving now. His tongue parted Evan's lips, and this was everything Evan ever wanted, and more.

The smell of smoke made them stop and look towards the stove, where the pan started to heat up a bit too much.

"Oh, fuck." Jared said, sweeping the pan off the heat. He looked back at Evan with a smirk. "Now... Where were we?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLY.   
> Oh boy, I've been waiting to write this chapter for a month! What're your thoughts on it?:)


	9. Chapter Nine - Jeremy

It's been two months since the shit hit the fan. Jeremy tried to make everything great again, but it was hard, even with the help of Evan and the others. Speaking of the others, Jeremy had to hurry up. They decided to meet in the mall in 20 minutes, and Jeremy could already hear Michael's old PT Cruiser on the street.

He ran a hand through his hair in order to try to make it look presentable. Keyword: try. He shrugged and put on his favourite blue cardigan before picking up his phone. In the last months he embraced his crush on Michael, so now he could actually function even when he was near. Don't get me wrong, Jeremy was still dying inside when he drank from the same bottle as Michael.

He made his way out of the house, grinning when he saw Michael the PT Cruiser. He was looking at Jeremy, waving awkwardly, and Jeremy let out a lovesick sigh. This was still not easy.

"Hey." Michael smiled as Jeremy slipped into the car, closing the door.

"You came early." Jeremy huffed, fiddling with the seatbelt. Michael chuckled.

"You too. I didn't even have the chance to honk like an idiot."

"Poor you." Jeremy rolled his eyes, a smile never leaving his face. "The neighbors are probably thankful."

Michael laughed and started the car. After a pretty awkward silence, he turned the radio on, so the boys sang along with Brendon Urie until they arrived to the mall. Michael checked his phone after he found a pretty good parking spot.

"They're already there, but Jared says we don't have to hurry." he smirked. "They're probably making out in a KFC."

Jeremy shuddered theatrically. "That's a mental image I wanna erase from my mind."

"Come on, let's find the lovebirds." Micha laughed, and grabbed Jeremy's hand.

Grabbed. His. Hand.

As Michael pulled Jeremy into the mall, he stumbled two times, and he was pretty sure his palm was sweaty, and Michael was still holding it-

Stop. They held hands before. Of course, that was before Jeremy realized this little... crush. He stubbornly used that word, even if Evan and Jared said a crush is only a crush if it lasts a month. After that, it's love. But there were exceptions, there had to be.

He didn't even notice when Michael stopped, only when he bumped into him.

"You okay?" Michael asked, looking worried. And he was still holding Jeremy's hand.

"Yeah, just a bit dizzy." he shrugged. Michael squeezed his hand.

"It's not the... It's not back, is it?" he asked. Jeremy immediately shook his head.

"No, no, of course not. I didn't get enough sleep, that's all." he said, and he didn't even lie. He was reading all night, because his nightmares were getting worse lately. Of course, that had nothing to do with him being weird, because Michael was still not letting go of his hand, what did this mean?

"Don't think you'll get away with it that easily." Michael said seriously, but he smiled immediately after. "They're there."

Sure enough, Jared and Evan were sitting in front of a KFC, eating chicken wings from the same bucket. They looked up when Michael pulled Jeremy closer to them.

"Finally." Evan grinned. He looked at Jeremy's hand in Michael's, and looked at Jeremy with a smug look. Jeremy only shrugged, sitting down on a free chair next to Jared.

"What do you wanna eat?" Michael asked, leaning close to Jeremy, making him shiver. Gosh, Michael basically _whispered in his ear_.

"Whatever you're eating is fine." he said. He wasn't a fan of fast food, but he ate anything from KFC. Michael nodded and headed to the line. Jeremy didn't take his eyes off him until he noticed Jared and Evan were staring at him.

"What?" he asked, biting his lip.

"Will you ever admit you love him?" Jared asked, sounding annoyed. Evan punched his shoulder seemingly weakly, but nodded afterwards.

"I don't." Jeremy rolled his eyes. He wondered why were they so invested in his nonexistent love life, but then he remembered the time before Evan started dating Jared. Huh. Guess he deserved this.

"Sure you don't." Evan hid a smile behind a cup of coke. "What do you like about him anyways? I mean he's not that big of a deal."

Jeremy tensed. "How is he not that big of a deal? He's great, and kind and always listens to me, even when I'm annoying. And he remembers every single stupid thing about me, like he remembered that I hate salmon, so he only buys me sushi without it." he chuckled softly, feeling giddy all of a sudden. "And of course he's just so unique, like who else would call up his best friend to talk about gay penguins? And- and he's so fucking nice, and his smile basically makes everything seem better in an instant, and oh my god, don't even let me start talking about his eyes, and..."

He stopped when he saw Evan's practically evil smile. "And?" Jared asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"And fuck both of you." Jeremy leaned back in his seat, feeling the blood rush into his face. He crossed his arms, and looked at the table. "I don't love him."

"Sure you don't." Jared laughed, making Jeremy blush even more.

"Shut up." Jeremy mumbled, still avoiding eye contact. Where was Michael anyways?

"Oh, come on, just admit it." Evan said. Jeremy laughed quietly.

"When did this become a Hercules situation?"

"Meg loved Hercules, so does this mean-" Jared snickered. Jeremy stole a piece of chicken from their bucket and threw it at him.

"Hey, people are starving... Somewhere." Michael appeared out of nowhere with a tray full of food. More specifically two hamburgers, some french fries, and one cup of coke. He sat down next to Jeremy, moving the tray closer to him.

"Thanks." Jeremy mumbled, already fidgeting with the wrapper of his burger.

"So, what's up?" Michael asked after he started eating as well.

"Nothing much. Mom is still pissed about me leaving the motel like two months ago." Evan said sadly. Jared curled an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. "But we talked, and it's not as bad as it was. We were thinking about going to the fair next weekend."

Jeremy looked at Evan, surprised. "I'm bringing dad to the fair too."

"Wait, isn't your dad kinda..." Jared scrunched his nose. "Nonresponsive?"

"He's getting better." Jeremy smiled. "He went out to buy milk yesterday. He even wore pants."

"Wait, really?" Michael grinned widely, throwing a handful of french fries into his mouth. "That's great!"

Jeremy threw a tissue paper at him, acting disgusted. "Swallow before you talk."

Jared nearly spit out his coke. "Kinky." he managed to choke out, making Jeremy want to disappear.

"I hope you die." he hid his face behind his hands, laughing at Jared's coughs that slowly grew quiet.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking." Jared got himself together, obviously trying not to laugh.

"Anyways." Michael spoke up. He was a bit red as well, which gave Jeremy some hope, and of course some thoughts he'd rather not discuss. "If both of you go to the fair, I suggest a surprise date."

"Surprise date?" Evan raised a brow.

"Yeah." Michael nodded with shining eyes. "You two leave your parents together somewhere romantic, and boom."

When he said _boom_ , he imitated an explosion with his hands. Jeremy smiled softly. It was absolutely adorable.

"What do you think?" Michael looked at him first, then Evan.

"It could work." Evan said, and Jeremy nodded.

"Cool." Michael smiled, and it was that genuine and excited smile Jeremy loved so much, and he was definitely not ready for that.

So he choked on his hamburger.

"Shit, here." Michael pushed his coke towards him, which would've been good, if Jeremy wouldn't have remembered that Michael already used this straw, and it was now in his mouth, and oh fuck-

"Thanks." he managed to say (probably around an octave higher than normally). Do you remember when he said he could function around Michael? He might've been lying.

"You okay?" Michael put a hand on Jeremy's forehead. "You seem pretty hot."

It was Evan's turn to try to choke back a laugh, and fail miserably. Jeremy leaned further away from Michael, making him drop his hand between them.

"Uh I have to go now." Jeremy stood up, looking at the time. He promised his dad he'd clean the house, and it was a pretty big project.

"Sure you do." Jared snickered. Jeremy rolled his eyes, lightly hitting the back of Jared's head.

"Some of us have responsibilities." he said while he put away his phone.

Jared snorted. "I didn't know jerking off was a responsibility."

"It is for some us, who actually have a dick." Jeremy laughed, earning a giggle from Michael, a middle finger from Jared, and a glare from Evan. "See ya later."

He wasn't expecting Michael to stand up, but he did. "I guess you need a ride." he said when he saw Jeremy's puzzled look.

"Oh, no, nonono, I can walk, I'll just-" Jeremy stuttered, but Michael just walked past him, linking their arms in the process. "Wh-"

"Shut up, I'm not letting you walk for an hour when I have a car."

This. This is why Jeremy was utterly lovesick. Uh. Likesick? Anyways, he followed Michael out of the mall, ignoring Evan's knowing looks and Jared's smirk.

They made their way to the car, and after they were both inside, Michael turned the radio on. Jeremy smiled faintly at the familiar song, humming to it quietly.

 

> _I see the crystal raindrops fall_  
>  _And the beauty of it all_  
>  _Is when the sun comes shining through_  
>  _To make those rainbows in my mind_  
>  _When I think of you sometime_  
>  _And I wanna spend some time with you._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update, procrastination is a bitch. I hope you enjoyed though, and you know, kudos and comments make me feel alive~
> 
> (The song at the end is Just The Two Of Us from Grover Washington Jr)


	10. AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi,

Sorry if you thought this was an update, because it's not. The truth is, I don't like this fic anymore. I tried to write new chapters, but I just don't enjoy it, and if I don't enjoy writing, then the finished chapter won't be as enjoyable, so. 

I won't update this fic ever again (probably). If some of you feel like you want to continue it, contact me on Tumblr (domidrawsstuff.tumblr.com) for the rough storyline, or just finish it however you want to.

Honestly, I really used to hate people who just stopped writing a story, but I kinda understand them now, and I hope you will too. I hope you'll find some other fics you'll like, maybe even from me. Thank you all for reading and supporting me, and I'm sorry for not finishing this story properly.


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